Chest compressions prior to defibrillation are just as good as immediate treatment with an electrical defibrillator for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, according to analysis of pooled data. "Based on our study, current guidelines emphasizing early defibrillation still are important," Meier said in a statement. "However, since the outcomes with the chest compression-first approach were not inferior and might be even better in the long-term, and in case of longer response times, this study may have an impact on future guidelines."
Still, survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest are low, hovering at about 7.6% over the last 30 years, the researchers noted.