Abstract 131: Perceived Exertion And Physical Demand Of Performing 10-minutes Of Compression-only CPR

Abstract

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is physically demanding and must also be performed under emotional distress. Most cardiac arrests (CA) occur at home, making it likely that only one rescuer is available to perform CPR until emergency medical services (EMS) or other lay rescuers arrive. We performed a study to quantify the physical exertion required of lay-providers performing compression-only CPR for 10 minutes both with (WFB) and without (WOFB) real-time CPR quality feedback. We recruited healthy, CPR certified lay individuals to perform 10-minute rounds of CPR on two occasions: once WFB and once WOFB. We collected heart rate (HR), oxygen consumption (VO 2 ), and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) at baseline and throughout each round of CPR and collected capillary lactate and blood pressures pre- and post-CPR. We used Kruskal Wallis, Wilcoxon signed rank and rank sum tests to compare changes in measures during CPR. Participants were 15 females and 11 males, age 25 (IQR 22-37). All measures except for diastolic blood pressure, significantly changed over time. Systolic blood pressure increased both WFB (mean difference (MD) 8mmHg; 95% CI 12-5) and WOFB (MD 8mmHg; 95% CI 12-3). VO 2 and HR increased over time, but peak VO 2 and HR did not differ by group. RPE significantly increased WFB and WOFB (WFB MD 8; 95% CI 10-7; WOFB MD 8; 95% CI 9-7) WFB and WOFB, with females reporting a higher RPE immediately post-CPR WFB than males (MD 2; 95% CI 5-1). Lactate increased from baseline immediately post (WFB MD 2.3mmol/L; 95% CI 0.9-3.7; WOFB MD 1.8mmol/L; 95%CI 2.6-1) and 5-minutes post CPR (WFB MD 0.8mmol/L; 95% CI 2.3-0.7; WOFB MD2.1 mmol/L; 95% CI 0.9-3.3). CPR produces subjective and objective signs of strenuous exertion in both men and women. The presence of feedback does not alter physiologic response to prolonged CPR. However, females reported higher RPEs when performing CPR WFB, despite no significant difference in physiologic response.