(Press-News.org) If you think that performing CPR on a person whose heart has stopped is a surefire way to save their life, you may be watching too much TV.
The truth is more depressing than fiction, according to a new study by University of Southern California Davis School of Gerontology researchers. While medical dramas Grey's Anatomy and House show cardiopulmonary resuscitation saving a patient's life nearly 70 percent of the time, the real immediate survival rate is nearly half that - around 37 percent.
Researchers also found another discrepancy between reality and TV: Half of the characters who received CPR made enough of a recovery to eventually leave the hospital, but in reality, only 13 percent of patients given CPR survive in the long-term, said senior author and Davis School Associate Professor Susan Enguidanos, an expert in end-of-life care.
"Most people have no knowledge of actual CPR survival and thus make medical care decisions for themselves and family members based on inaccurate assumptions," Enguidanos said.
Some people think it's a no-brainer that fiction sometimes distorts the truth, but research has shown that 42 percent of older adults report that their health knowledge comes from TV. Many are likely basing their care preferences on inaccurate ideas of what risks they face and how survivable a heart attack is, Enguidanos said.
For the study, the research team watched episodes of both shows that aired during 2010 and 2011, and found 46 separate depictions of CPR--involving either chest compressions or defibrillation. Investigators recorded not only whether the patients lived or died but also the cause of cardiac arrest and the apparent backgrounds and ages of those receiving CPR.
In addition to inaccurate survival rates, researchers found a number of other discrepancies.
The depictions show CPR mostly being performed on adults age 18 to 65, when in reality more than 60 percent of CPR recipients are older adults over 65, Enguidanos said. Also, trauma was behind nearly 40 percent of the CPR instances in the shows, even though traumatic injury cases only account for 2 percent of all CPR usage in real life.
When comparing these results to a similar study conducted in 1996, accuracy rates of television CPR depictions appear to not be improving. And though they seem like harmless entertainment, widespread inaccuracies in medical dramas could have real-life consequences.
Compounding the issue is the fact that the shows also largely fail to depict advance care planning and conversations about end-of-life choices. Among 91 episodes analyzed, only five patients and/or their families discussed care preferences with their doctors.
"The findings from this study emphasize the need for improved physician-patient communication and discussions around advance care planning decisions, such as CPR," said Jaclyn Portanova, Davis School Ph.D. in Gerontology student and first author of the study. "Without these discussions, patients may rely on misinformation from TV in their decision-making."
INFORMATION:
The study was co-authored by Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Aging student Krystle Irvine and Master of Science in Gerontology Jae Yoon Yi. It appeared online in the journal Resuscitation on August 18, 2015. The full article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.resuscitation.2015.08.002.
TAMPA, Fla. - Pancreatic cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancer-related death in the United States and has a 5-year survival rate of only 6 percent, which is the lowest rate of all types of cancer according to the American Cancer Society. This low survival rate is partially attributed to the difficulty in detecting pancreatic cancer at an early stage. According to a new 'proof of principle' study published in Aug. 27 issue of Cancer Prevention Research, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers hope to improve pancreatic cancer survival rates by identifying markers in ...
Beach sand contains all kinds of microorganisms, including those that can harm human health. Yet current guidelines are focused exclusively on monitoring the levels of microbes in the water.
Now, an international panel of scientists is recommending monitoring the sand at recreational beaches, to minimize health risks for beachgoers. Their advice is based on the general consensus reached during the international conference "Trends in Environmental Microbiology and Public Health," held in Lisbon Portugal in September 2014.
"Beach sands accumulate contaminants and people ...
A collaboration between biologists and engineers at Monash University has led to the development of a new non-invasive image processing technique to visualise embryo formation. Researchers were able to see, for the first time, the movement of all of the cells in living mammalian embryos as they develop under the microscope. This breakthrough has important implications for IVF (in vitro fertilisation) treatments and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). In the future, this approach could help with embryo selection before the embryo is implanted back into the uterus to ...
A German-French team has developed a light-sensitive switch that regulates a protein implicated in the neurobiology of synaptic plasticity. The agent promises to shed new light on the phenomenology of learning, memory and neurodegeneration.
Learning is made possible by the fact that the functional connections between nerve cells in the brain are subject to constant remodeling. As a result of activation-dependent modification of these links ('synaptic plasticity'), circuits that are repeatedly stimulated "learn" to transmit signals ever more efficiently. This process is ...
This news release is available in German.
A new international study shows that 5,000 foetuses in Europe annually are affected by spina bifida and other severe defects on the central nervous system. Seventy per cent of these pregnancies are terminated, while increased mortality and serious diseases affect the children who are born. At least half of the cases can be avoided by adding folic acid to staple foods as is already being done in seventy non-European countries.
A lack of folic acid enrichment in Europe is the cause of several thousand cases of foaetal abnormalities ...
Parents go to great lengths to ensure the health and well-being of their developing offspring. The favor, however, may not always be returned.
Dramatic research has shown that during pregnancy, cells of the fetus often migrate through the placenta, taking up residence in many areas of the mother's body, where their influence may benefit or undermine maternal health.
The presence of fetal cells in maternal tissue is known as fetal microchimerism. The term alludes to the chimeras of ancient Greek myth--composite creatures built from different animal parts, like the goat-lion-serpent ...
When a plant dies, its leaves and branches fall to the ground. Decomposition of soil organic matter is then mainly carried out by fungi and bacteria, which convert dead plant materials into carbon dioxide and mineral nutrients.
Until now, scientists have thought that high quality organic materials, such as leaves that are rich in soluble sugars, are mainly decomposed by bacteria. Lower quality materials, such as cellulose and lignin that are found in wood, are mainly broken down by fungi.
Previous research has also shown that organic material that is broken down by ...
The scientific team of a new biotech company Gero in collaboration with one of the leading academics in the field of aging Prof. Robert J. Shmookler Reis (current world record holder in life extension for model animals - 10 fold for nematodes) has recently brought new insights into biology of aging and age-related diseases, primarily, around the stability and stress resistance of certain gene regulatory networks. The work has just been published as "Stability analysis of a model gene network links aging, stress resistance, and negligible senescence" in Scientific Reports ...
A new method of manufacturing glass could lead to the production of 'designer glasses' with applications in advanced photonics, whilst also facilitating industrial scale carbon capture and storage. An international team of researchers, writing today in the journal Nature Communications, report how they have managed to use a relatively new family of sponge-like porous materials to develop new hybrid glasses.
The work revolves around a family of compounds called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which are cage-like structures consisting of metal ions, linked by organic bonds. ...
MANHASSET, NY - Investigators at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have discovered that brain scans can be used to predict patients' response to antipsychotic drug treatment. The findings are published online in the latest issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry.
Psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, are characterized by delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thoughts and behavior. They are estimated to occur in up to three percent of the population and are a leading cause for disability worldwide. Psychotic episodes are ...
