Your neighborhood or the neighborhood of your workplace may determine whether you survive a heart attack.

This study found that in poorer neighborhoods survival rates were lower, which is attributed to the way in which CPR training is done and the lower levels of response among bystanders, who can start CPR.

The study author noted that, “Nine out of 10 people die from a cardiac arrest event.”

U. S. News and World Report

“A person’s chances of surviving a cardiac arrest depend largely on the neighborhood in which they collapse, a new study suggests.

“Researchers found that people who suffer from cardiac arrest in some neighborhoods of Fulton County in Georgia — which is home to the city of Atlanta — are up to three times more likely to die than in other neighborhoods. They’re also less likely to have bystanders perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on them.

“The neighborhoods with the highest cardiac arrest death rates tended to be poorer and less educated, with more black residents, the study authors noted in their report in the June issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. (Emphasis added)

“These findings have national public health indications. They show that it is time to change our thinking on how and where we conduct CPR training if we are ever going to change the dismal rate of survival from cardiac arrest,” study author Dr. Comilla Sasson, who conducted the research at the University of Michigan, said in a news release. “Nine out of 10 people die from a cardiac arrest event.” (Emphasis added)

Source: U.S. News and World Report, June 1, 2010

Citation: Archives of Internal Medicine, Publication scheduled. June, 2010, issue.