Firefighters practice CPR at a safety center in Ansan, 30 kilometers south of Seoul, on Nov. 1, 2022, in the wake of the Itaewon tragedy, whose victims died from cardiac arrest. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 29 (Korea Bizwire) — A person experiencing a heart attack has twice the likelihood of survival if they receive immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), a government survey showed Wednesday.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) conducted a survey of 17,596 individuals who had heart attacks and were transported to a hospital.
The survey revealed a survival rate of 7.3 percent and a brain function recovery rate of 4.6 percent.
In 4,455 cases, bystanders promptly administered CPR upon discovering an individual suffering from a heart attack, resulting in a survival rate of 11.3 percent.
In another 1,748 cases, bystanders failed to administer CPR to the individual experiencing a heart attack, leading to a survival rate of 5.7 percent.
When a bystander administered CPR, the rate of brain function recovery was 8 percent, which was 2.4 times higher than the rate without CPR (3.3 percent).
According to the KDCA, the rate of bystanders administering CPR has gradually increased from 1.9 percent in 2008 to 29.2 percent last year.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
