Key result
Combined football equipment and manikin obesity reduce CPR chest compression depth to ~33 mm.
Why the study?
Protective athletic equipment and obesity may impair the delivery of effective chest compressions during CPR, but no established management algorithm exists for equipment-laden athletes.
Does American football protective equipment and simulated obesity reduce CPR chest compression quality performed by emergency responders?
Does American football protective equipment and simulated obesity reduce CPR chest compression quality performed by emergency responders?
CPR chest compression depth is significantly reduced by both simulated patient obesity and American football protective equipment, highlighting a need for specific resuscitation protocols in these scenarios.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May warrant CPR adjustments for obese athletes with pads; hypothesis-generating simulation data requiring clinical validation.
Objective Protective athletic equipment may hamper the delivery of effective chest compressions. Unfortunately, an algorithm for managing cardiac arrest emergencies with equipment-laden athletes has yet to be established by national CPR certifying agencies. Further, athletes classified as being overweight or obese carry adipose in the thoracic region, which has been reported to inhibit the ability of rescuers to provide quality chest compressions. Thus, the purpose of this study was two-fold. The first purpose was to assess the ability of emergency responders to perform CPR chest compressions on an obese manikin. The second purpose was to analyze the effect of American football protective equipment on the performance of chest compressions by emergency responders.Methods Fifty emergency responders completed four 2-minute bouts of compression-only CPR. The scenarios included performing chest compressions on both traditional and obese CPR manikins, and performing chest compressions over a set of shoulder pads/chest protector that is used in the sport of American football on both traditional and obese manikins.Results The most notable outcomes in this study were related to chest compression depth, which fell well below the minimum recommended depth published by the American Heart Association in all conditions. Mean compression depth was significantly lower when performed on the obese manikin (avg over pads = 32.8, SD = 9.2 mm; avg no pads = 38.2, SD = 9.1 mm) compared to the traditional manikin (avg over pads = 40.0, SD = 10.9 mm; avg no pads = 40.8, SD = 14.8 mm), with statistical analyses revealing a significant effect due to both manikin size (p < 0.001) and the presence of equipment (p = 0.003), and a statistically significant interaction effect (p = 0.035). Chest recoil data revealed a statistically significant effect due to both manikin size (p = 0.017) and the presence of chest/shoulder safety pads (p = 0.003).Conclusion Within this sample of emergency responders, chest compressions were adversely affected both by the equipment and obesity. Additionally, the traditional manikin received comparable chest compressions regardless of the presence or absence of football protective equipment, albeit both conditions resulted in poor depth performance.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Longo et al. (2023) studied Cardiac arrest (n=50). Obese manikin and American football protective equipment vs. Traditional manikin without equipment was evaluated on Mean chest compression depth (p=<0.001). CPR chest compression depth was reduced by both manikin obesity and football equipment, with the lowest depth on obese manikins with pads.
Synapse has enriched 10 related papers. Consider them for comparative context: