'Cough CPR' first aid technique now seen as unsafe

By MARTIN JOHNSTON

Grey Power has stopped promoting a heart attack resuscitation technique it now accepts is "dangerous".

The Heart Foundation says so-called cough CPR does not work and has asked Grey Power to stop plugging it in newsletters.

The idea of cough CPR is for someone alone, suffering heart attack symptoms such as severe and spreading chest pain, to cough deeply and repeatedly.

An email promoting the technique says it gets oxygen into the lungs and keeps the blood circulating. "The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm."

Similar advice has been circulated by Grey Power associations in local newsletters, but they have accepted the Heart Foundation's view that it is unhelpful and are trying to counteract it.

Heart Foundation medical director Dr Diana North said yesterday: "Cough CPR basically doesn't work."

When someone's heart stopped beating - commonly preceded by heart attack symptoms - he or she collapsed and lost consciousness within one or two seconds.

"There is not time for the person to initiate their own cough CPR. If someone has a cardiac arrest in the community, bystanders should immediately call an ambulance and then begin standard CPR."

Promoting cough CPR was misleading, she said, because people might do the wrong thing. She did not believe using the technique would save lives.

The American Heart Association says cough CPR should be used only in hospital under the instruction of nurses or doctors until other treatment is started.

Grey Power Federation vice-president Don Chapman said one of its 75 associations picked up an item about cough CPR from the internet and published it in its newsletter within the last two months.

"We've since found out that it's very dangerous and we have put in further articles explaining not to use it."

nzherald.co.nz/health