Heart Attacks & Sudden Cardiac Arrests
CPR training has never been needed more than right now in Saudi Arabia, the statement below is by Dr Muhammad Adil Soofi, first author of the research and assistant consultant in adult cardiology at Prince Salman Heart Centre, King Fahad Medical City in Riyadh, said:
“Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 13 February 2015: One in four adults in Saudi Arabia is set to have a heart attack within the next 10 years, reveals research presented at the 26th Annual Conference of the Saudi Heart Association (SHA)”, he also added that
“The majority of people we studied were between 20 and 40 years old and 26% were at high risk of a heart attack or death from a heart attack in 10 years”.
Just learning basic CPR and being able to administer if needed could save up to 50% of these people, or in some cases triple the chance of survival, based on his research one in four adults will suffer a heart attack or sudden cardiac arrest.
That is 25% of the adult population, some quick figures show how freighting this actually is.
2016 Population = 28,160,273
2016 population over 24 years of age = 54.6% = 15,375,509
25% = 3,843,877 adults are at risk of sudden cardiac arrest or heart attack over the next ten years.
https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/saudi-arabia-coronary-heart-disease
Heart Association CPR Facts and Statistics.
· About 75 percent to 80 percent of all out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen at home, 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 550,000 of the 927,000 adults who die as a result of cardiovascular disease.
· Approximately 335,000 of all annual adult coronary heart disease deaths in the U.S. are due to sudden cardiac arrest, suffered outside the hospital setting and in hospital emergency departments. About 900 Americans die every day due to sudden cardiac arrest.
· 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.
Basic CPR training could double or triple the chances of survival of a victim of heart attack or sudden cardiac arrest, having an AED available increases this further.
Basic CPR & AED Training can take a few hours’ time, and can be delivered in Arabic. Companies could run campaigns for all of their employees or hold open days for families, since most cardiac arrests take place at home this would make sense.
Empowering people, employees, families with knowledge that could save a life will not provide a quick fix for the initial problem, but it will ensure that the survival rate is increased while the problem is being addressed.