Acute cardiac care & resuscitationResearch article

Evaluating the effect of a regional training initiative on bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation rates after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

ResuscitationPublished

  • difference-in-differences framework
  • single large county compared with two other counties as controls
  • logistic regression models with fixed effects for each county

Authors' conclusion

While we observed an increasing trend in bystander CPR rates in all regions, this change was not associated with the intervention. However, we found that the intervention was associated with a significant increase in bystander CPR rates for public OHCAs.

Study context

Population
Patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), excluding events at health care facilities, Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) data January 2022 to December 2024intervention region 15,417
Participants
20,414 included patients
Comparison
association between the intervention and bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) rates in a single large county compared with two other counties as controls
  • intervention regionn = 15,417
Outcome
Change in bystander CPR rates associated with the intervention
Follow-up
Pre- vs post-intervention periods

Main finding

As reported in the abstract

intervention region

37.4%

bystander CPR rate, pre-intervention · bystander CPR rate, post-intervention 42.5%

not significant
adjusted intervention effect 2.94 percentage-points (95% CI −0.95 to 6.83)
significant increase
adjusted intervention effect, public locations 8.59 percentage-point increase (95% CI 0.22–16.96)

Secondary outcomes

Survival to hospital discharge and neurologically intact survival (secondary) · pre- vs post-intervention periods

No significant intervention effect

Original publication

Evaluating the effect of a regional training initiative on bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation rates after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Resuscitation. Published 15 August 2026. doi:10.1016/j.resuscitation.2026.111262

Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it