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

Abstract

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.