Vigorous CPR is best for cardiac arrest

Vigorous cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with more chest compressions on people with sudden cardiac arrest can improve the survival rate, a new study shows. "Chest compressions move blood with oxygen to the heart and the brain to save the brain and prepare the heart to start up its own rhythm when a shock is delivered with a defibrillator," says study researcher Jim Christenson, MD, of the University of British Columbia. "We found that even short pauses in chest compressions were quite detrimental." In the new study, published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers analyzed data from 78 emergency medical services agencies to determine the effect of chest compressions on patient outcome. They specifically looked at something called the "chest compression fraction" (CCF), which refers to the percentage of time spent performing chest compressions relative to the entire time that CPR is performed - WebMD