CPR facts and statistics
About 80 percent of all out-of-hospital cardiac arrests
occur in private residential settings, so being trained to
perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can mean the
difference between life and death for a loved one.
Effective bystander CPR, provided immediately after cardiac
arrest, can double a victim’s chance of survival.
CPR helps maintain vital blood flow to the heart and brain
and increases the amount of time that an electric shock from
a defibrillator can be effective.
Approximately 95 percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims
die before reaching the hospital.
Death from sudden cardiac arrest is not inevitable. If more
people knew CPR, more lives could be saved.
Brain death starts to occur four to six minutes after
someone experiences cardiac arrest if no CPR and
defibrillation occurs during that time.
If bystander CPR is not provided, a sudden cardiac arrest
victim’s chances of survival fall 7 percent to 10 percent
for every minute of delay until defibrillation. Few attempts
at resuscitation are successful if CPR and defibrillation
are not provided within minutes of collapse.
Coronary heart disease accounts for about 446,000 of the
over 864,000 adults who die each year as a result of
cardiovascular disease.
There are 294,851 emergency medical services-treated
out-of-hospital cardiac arrests annually in the United
States.
There are about 138,000 coronary heart disease deaths within
one hour of symptom onset each year in the United States.
Sudden cardiac arrest is most often caused by an abnormal
heart rhythm called ventricular fibrillation (VF). Cardiac
arrest can also occur after the onset of a heart attack or
as a result of electrocution or near-drowning.
When sudden cardiac arrest occurs, the victim collapses,
becomes unresponsive to gentle shaking, stops normal
breathing and after two rescue breaths, still isn’t
breathing normally, coughing or moving.