Purpose: To evaluate changes in public knowledge regarding cardio-pulmonary resuscitation accompanying four years of cardiac arrest awareness campaigning.

Materials & Methods: Personal, structured interviews have been conducted with random passengers at the railway station of Graz, Austria (286.000 inhabitants) prior and four years after a regional cardiac arrest awareness campaign. In this period, approximately 14.000 people have received a short training of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation at public spaces.

We hereby present the results of a question, asking what measures should be initiated when witnessing a collapse suspicious of a cardiac arrest.

Results: In total 920 passengers have been interviewed (pre: 288, post: 632), of whom 648 have been randomly assigned to the specific question. Knowledge about cardio-pulmonary resuscitation increased significantly over the observed period.

Of the interviewees, 19% more spontaneously mentioned chest compressions (2014: 56.3% [95% CI 48.1–64.3%] vs. 2018: 75.3% [71.4–78,9%], p < 0.001). Concurrently, 12.6% less replied a recovery position should be performed (2014: 28.2% [21.3–36.0%] vs. 2018: 15.6% [12.6–19.0%], p = 0.001). In contrast, 5.8% more answered that they would call for help (2014: 88.7% [82.8–93.1%] vs. 2018: 94.5% [92,2–96,2%], p = 0.016). Changes concerning ventilation and defibrillation were not significant.

Conclusions: While the changes may not be singularly attributed to our cardiac arrest awareness campaign, the magnitude of changes correlates with the campaign's core messages. The results suggest that training in the fashion of sidewalk resuscitation of a substantial fraction of society may improve public knowledge regarding cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

1 - Effects of a Regional Cardiac Arrest Awareness Campaign in a Midsize European City