Cosmos Editorial
Should you be at risk of a heart attack it might be an idea to keep company with fans of 1990s Euro-disco.
That’s the take-home advice from findings presented to Euroanaesthesia 2018, the European Anaesthesiology Congress held over the weekend in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Enrique Carrero Cardenal from the University of Barcelona in Spain, and colleagues, revealed the findings of a study into the correct application of CPR technique.
Using 164 medical students practising on mannequins, the researchers found that the required CPR rate of between 100 to 120 chest compressions per minute was better achieved by volunteers who sung the hit song La Macarena while they were doing it than by those who remained silent.
The best results were obtained by a third cohort of students who matched their compression rates to the ticking on a smartphone metronome app, set to 103 beats-per-minute. However, it seems that in the absence of such technology singing Los del Río’s finest achievement is a very handy alternative.
Although, presumably, accompanying the singing with the song’s trademark dance moves is not recommended.
