Some clinical and experimental studies have questioned
the need for assisted ventilation during resuscitation after
cardiac arrest. A study by Van Hoeyweghen et al2 evaluated
the outcomes in 3,306 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests and
found that a significant number of European health care
workers already omit mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing
during CPR. In out-of-hospital primary cardiac arrests, chest
compression alone was used in 263 cases and combined
chest compression and rescue breathing in 443. The 16%
survival rate for the group receiving rescue breathing was
greater, but not significantly so, than the 10% survival rate
for the group receiving chest compression alone. The lack
of statistical significance may reflect the relatively small sample
size and the wide range of times between cardiac arrest
and attempted resuscitation. The lack of a clear advantage
to rescue breathing focused attention on the role of rescue
breathing as an essential component of CPR.