Each year, about 350,000 people in the U.S. suffer cardiac arrest outside a hospital setting. Most of them die before reaching the hospital. But where a person collapses and whether that person can get immediate CPR is often the difference between life and death.
Emory’s Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) is receiving $23.85 million in grant funding over the next five years from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study will expand a national data collection tool to better understand how, why, and where these cardiac arrests are taking place and to then implement intervention strategies to save lives.
Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. CARES is the only national data collection tool that connects pre-hospital cardiac arrest data with hospital outcomes. CARES equips communities with crucial data to compare patient populations, interventions, and outcomes related to sudden cardiac arrest.
Survival and good outcomes for cardiac arrest patients depend on a chain of events and circumstances. Studies show that bystander-initiated CPR can double or triple the chances of survival.
CARES research has found access to these life-saving interventions can differ dramatically according to race, gender, income, and other factors.
Last year, CARES published a major study that found that Black and Hispanic persons were less likely than white persons to receive potentially lifesaving bystander CPR at home and in public locations. The study found this was the case regardless of the racial or ethnic makeup or income level of the neighborhood where the cardiac arrest occurred.
“CDC is committed to preventing deaths and disability from the nation’s leading killer, cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Janet S. Wright, director of CDC’s Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention in a press release. “By investing in CARES, CDC is making timely, practical, quality-enhancing data available to communities and health systems across the country. These insights can help identify and eliminate disparities and lead to longer, healthier lives for all.”
The CDC CARES Expansion and Modernization Grant, which went into effect this month, marks a return to public funding for the CARES performance and quality improvement program. Originally founded by Emory and CDC in 2004, the registry has operated through private funding since 2013, largely through philanthropic support.
The new funding channel was made possible through recent legislation that was signed into law at the end of last year. The Cardiovascular Advances in Research and Opportunities Legacy (CAROL) Act was introduced in 2021 by Congressman Andy Barr, in honor of his late wife, Carol Leavell Barr, who died from sudden cardiac death.
CARES said the CDC funding will go toward investing in quality improvement efforts and technological updates and advancements to ensure faster and more streamlined data collection, analysis, and dissemination.
The grant will also help CARES expand its coverage to include all 50 states (currently 33 participate).
CARES currently covers 178 million people or 53% of the U.S. population.
CARES will continue to partner with the American Heart Association, and the American Red Cross, both of which will continue to play a key role in training local workforces to implement CARES locally and ensure data quality.
Cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death among adults in the United States, and the chance of survival increases dramatically when a nearby person can immediately call 911 and begin CPR. While being trained to perform CPR is ideal, anyone can perform hands-only CPR to help restart blood and oxygen circulation. 911 dispatchers can walk people through steps over the phone.
CARES says their role in data collection is a key part of identifying where these kinds of disparities exist, helping to figure out how and why they happen, and then helping local partners create a plan for how to intervene. Intervention strategies can include providing CPR training, building up access to automated external defibrillators or AEDs, reducing risk factors, conducting bias training, and helping districts determine where they need to allocate more resources toward emergency medical services in under-resourced neighborhoods.
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