Background and Goal of Study: 

Effective Basic Life Support (BLS) is crucial to improve survival after cardiac arrest. The early use of automated external defibrillators (AED) is a key point in the chain of survival. The aim of this study was to evaluate a possible gender difference in the quality of chest-compression-only (CCO) CPR and the handling of an AED.

Materials and Methods: 

445 first year medical students were asked to participate in this open, prospective controlled trial. After providing written informed consent the students were asked to perform single-rescuer CCO CPR on a manikin (Ambu Man C, Ballerup, Denmark) and to follow the instructions of an AED for 4 minutes. Baseline demographics (such as gender and body mass index (BMI)) of the students were documented. CPR-quality was assessed by using the combined parameter “effective compression ratio” (ECR). ECR is defined as chest-compressions with correct depth, correct hand position and complete decompression multiplied by flow time (active CPR time). In the tested setting, correctly performed CCO CPR has a maximum ECR of 0.92.

In addition, time-related parameters of the AED use were documented and the students were asked to subjectively rate their own CPR-quality on a 10 point Likert-scale, where 1 means poor and 10 means excellent.

Data are presented as mean ± SD. A p-value < 0.05 was considered significant.


Results and Discussion:

297 female and 148 male students participated in this study. ECR differed significantly between genders (Female: 0,13 ± 0,20, Male: 0,08 ± 0,14; p = 0.001). The table shows the collected data. The subjective rating of the CPR-quality was significantly higher in the group of male participants compared to the female participants (7,0 ± 1,6 versus 6,5 ± 1,8, p =0.001).

Figure1 [Table: Difference of collected CPR-parameters]



Conclusion(s):

Female participants achieved a significantly better objective CPR-quality (ECR), but they subjectively rated their own CPR-quality significantly worse than the male participants. Further studies are necessary to evaluate this impact of gender on CPR-quality, but CPR trainers should be aware and address these gender differences during CPR training.

06 / Gender differences in CPR-quality and use of automated external defibrillators