Friday, July 3, 2009

STAYIN' ALIVE!



CPR STUDY SUGGESTS "STAYIN' ALIVE" LIVES UP TO NAME

CHICAGO – “Stayin’ Alive” might be more true to its name than the Bee Gees ever could have guessed: At 103 beats per minute, the old disco song has almost the perfect rhythm to help jump-start a stopped heart.

The American Heart Association recommends 100 chest compressions per minute, far more than most people realize, study author Dr. David Matlock of the school’s Peoria, Ill., campus said.

He found that “Stayin’ Alive,” which has a way of getting stuck in your head anyway, can help with that.

His study involved 15 students and doctors and had two parts. First they did CPR on mannequins while listening to the song on iPods. They were asked to time chest compressions with the song’s beat.

The study showed the song helped people who already know how to do CPR, and the results were promising enough to warrant larger, more definitive studies with real patients or untrained people, Matlock said.

It turns out the American Heart Association has been using the song as a training tip for CPR instructors for about two years. They learned of it from a physician “who sort of hit upon this as a training tool,” said association spokesman Dr. Vinay Nadkarni of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Matthew Gilbert, a 28-year-old medical resident, was among participants in the University of Illinois study this past spring. Since then, he said, he has revived real patients by keeping the song in his head while doing CPR.

Gilbert said he was surprised the song worked as well as it did.

“I was a little worried because I’ve been told that I have a complete lack of rhythm,” he said. Also, Gilbert said he’s not really a disco fan. But “Stayin’ Alive” work wonders!

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