Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation training in primary and secondary school children in China and the impact of neighborhood socioeconomic status: A prospective controlled trial.

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) has endorsed school bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training programs. But related researches in China are limited. Therefore, we conducted this study to assess bystander CPR training in school children in China and the impact of neighborhood socio-economic status (SES) on.

Methods: A total of 1,093 students from seven schools in Zhejiang province participated in this study. Theoretical and practical bystander CPR training were conducted in instructor-led classes. Students completed a 10-statement questionnaire before and after training, and then underwent a skills assessment during a simulated basic life support (BLS) scenario. Subgroup analyses were stratified according to neighborhood SES.

Results: Before training, most students (72.83%) had a strong desire to learn bystander CPR and share with others. After training, bystander CPR theory was significantly improved (P < .01), and 92.64% students reached an 85-100% performance rate in a simulated BLS scenario. Students from low-SES neighborhoods had less pre-training knowledge of bystander CPR (P < .01). However, their performance was similar with students from higher-SES neighborhoods on the post-training questionnaire and the skills assessment, and better among students aged 13-14 years.

Conclusion: School children in China have a poor pre-training knowledge of bystander CPR. However, with training, there was a significant improvement in the basic theory and skills of CPR. Bystander CPR training efforts should be targeted to Chinese primary and secondary school children, especially in low-SES neighborhoods.