Researchers have highlighted gender disparity in administering life-saving CPR to individuals experiencing cardiac arrests in public settings.

Their findings, yet to undergo peer review but will be discussed in Spain at a medical conference, shed light on the reluctance of onlookers to provide CPR to women compared to men during these emergencies.

To understand the reasons behind the gender gap in CPR administration, one theory proposed by the researchers is that bystanders in public settings may feel uncomfortable providing chest compressions, which unavoidably involve touching a woman’s chest, without obtaining prior consent.

Additionally, the research team explored whether age factors into bystander behaviour in these critical situations.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), a critical procedure involving mouth-to-mouth respiration and chest compressions, can effectively sustain oxygen flow to the brain in cases where the heart has stopped beating, potentially averting fatalities until professional medical assistance arrives.

The investigation delved into the divergent approaches taken by bystanders when applying CPR to both genders. It involved an extensive examination of cardiac arrest cases outside healthcare facilities in the United States and Canada over the ten years from 2005 to 2015, encompassing almost 40,000 patients.

The results revealed that 54 per cent of these patients received CPR assistance from a bystander. However, in cardiac arrests in public spaces, such as on the street, only 61 per cent of women received CPR from bystanders. In comparison, 68 per cent of men in similar situations benefited from bystander intervention.

Alexis Cournoyer, an emergency physician from Hopital du Sacre-Coeur de Montreal and the lead researcher, stated that the disparity heightened the mortality risk for women following a cardiac arrest.

Cardiac arrests rank among the leading causes of death, with over 350,000 occurrences annually in the U.S. alone, according to the American Heart Association.