Abstract 260: The Relation of Country-of-Birth With Willingness to Respond to Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest in Multiethnic Communities of New South Wales (NSW), Australia

• Published in: Circulation (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 146; no. Suppl_1; p. A260
• Main Authors: Munot, Sonali, Redfern, Julie, Bray, Janet, Angell, Blake, Bauman, Adrian, Coggins, Andrew, Denniss, Alan Robert, Ferry, Cate, Jennings, Garry, Kovoor, Pramesh, Kumar, Saurabh, Lai, Kevin, Khanlari, Sarah, Marschner, Simone, Middleton, Paul, Nelson, Michael, Oppermann, Ian, Semsarian, Christopher, Taylor, Lee, Vukasovic, Matthew, Ware, Sandra, Chow, Clara K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hagerstown, MD Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 08.11.2022
• Subjects: Behavioral aspects; Ethnicity; Basic life support
• ISSN: 0009-7322; 1524-4539
• DOI: 10.1161/circ.146.suppl_1.260

Introduction: Bystander response including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is critical to survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Poorer outcomes have been reported in some immigrant communities but there has been less research about bystander response in these communities. Over a third of New South Wales (NSW) residents were born outside Australia. Hypothesis: Country of birth may explain variation in willingness to respond to OHCA. Methods: A survey was conducted between May 2021-May 2022. It employed multiple recruitment approaches including reaching out to 72 organisations and targeting multi-ethnic community organisations, advertising via social media, and leveraging local networks. Data were collected on demographic variables, CPR training, and attitudes towards responding to OHCA. Results: Of the 1267 respondents (average age 49.6 years, 52% female), 60% were born outside Australia; of which 44% (n=332) were from South Asia, 33% (n=246) from East Asia and the remaining 23% from a mix of other regions including north-west Europe, north Africa-middle east. Most immigrant respondents (73%) had lived in Australia for over ten years. Higher rates of previous CPR training were reported in Australian-born participants compared with South Asian-born and East Asian-born (76%, 35%, 47% respectively p<0.001) with current training rates i.e. in last 12 months (16%, 6%, 12% respectively, p=0.003). Higher rates of willingness to perform CPR on someone they did not know, was reported in Australian-born participants compared to South Asian-born and East Asian-born (74%, 63%, 56% respectively, p=<0.001. After adjusting for age, gender, education, employment status, self-reported general health, and previous CPR training, the odds of reporting willingness to perform CPR was OR:0.73 (95% CI: 0.51-1.04) among respondents born in South Asia and OR:0.58 (95% CI 0.41-0.83) among those from East Asian countries compared with Australian-born. Conclusions: Improving access to training and addressing barriers to response in multi-ethnic communities may improve willingness and consequently response to OHCA.