Suffering Cardiac Arrest More Dangerous at Home
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iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — If you have to go into cardiac arrest, says a new study in the journal Resuscitation, do it anywhere but home.
In what probably flies in the face of conventional wisdom, researchers say that odds of surviving a heart attack are much better when they occur outside your place of residence.
The problem apparently has to do with family members. According to the study, those living with you will wait longer to perform CPR or call 911 than people who see you go into sudden cardiac arrest elsewhere, and that includes strangers.
Often, researchers say, relatives think that someone who has collapsed may just be lying down and taking it easy.
Responses also might be slowed as people get older. Studies show that the elderly are not equipped to deal with real medical emergencies.
And although people who suffer cardiac arrest are more likely to survive when it happens during daytime hours, that advantage is negated if it occurs at home.
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