“Kids Save Lives”: Educating Schoolchildren in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Is a Civic Duty That Needs Support for Implementation

S udden out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OOHCA) is most probably the third leading cause of death in industrialized nations. We expect that up to 400 000 people will die of OOHCA in the United States each year, and the same applies to Europe and many areas of the world. The most important measure to improve survival from cardiac arrest with good neurologic function is the immediate start of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) procedures by bystanders. Following cardiocirculatory arrest and no blood flow, the brain can survive for only 3 to 5 minutes without any damage; however, emergency medical service systems anywhere in the world likely will not arrive until more than 6, 8, 10, or more minutes have passed, depending on the country, system configuration, geography, and other factors. Consequently, in almost all cases, emergency medical services come too late for those with OOHCA. It is well known and scientifically proven that initiation of CPR by lay bystanders increases survival rates at least 2to 3-fold. In this respect, lay CPR is much better and more effective than any other therapeutic intervention following OOHCA. In most countries, however, lay CPR rates are <30%. In very few countries are lay CPR rates 40% to 60%—or maybe >70%. If we could achieve lay CPR rates of 60% to 80% all over the world, this would immediately result in 200 000 to 300 000 additional survivors after OOHCA. There are several effective ways to increase lay CPR rates, for example, through continuous media activities, dispatcher-assisted “telephone CPR,” CPR education in adults, CPR education in schoolchildren, and first-responder systems. All of these options are recommended in the 2015 CPR guidelines, and all are useful and feasible. We have seen in several countries that educating schoolchildren in CPR is particularly associated with an