[Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: University of Trieste students' skills on resuscitative maneuvers and automated external defibrillator].

Background: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is the third leading cause of death in industrialized countries. Although most cardiac arrests are witnessed, survival is only 2-10%, since bystanders are often unable to correctly perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). This study aims to assess the theoretical and practical knowledge of CPR and the use of the automatic external defibrillator in university students.