Heart attack: living on a high floor decreases survival rate

The increase in the number of people living on high floors alters the response of the emergency services and decreases the survival rate in the event of a heart attack. Indeed, living on the highest floors of the building would be bad for your health, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Journal of the Canadian Medical Association. This would increase the risk of not surviving a heart attack. From the 16th floor, the survival rate would be zero.

Researchers at St Michael’s Hospital in Toronto (Canada) carried out a study with 8,216 patients struck down by a heart attack and who were treated by rescuers sent after a call, 3.8% of them survived.

They first observed that the arrival time of the emergency vehicle to reach the site after the call remains relatively stable.

On the other hand, this study reveals that the survival rate of victims living on the 3rd floor at most was 4.2%, compared to 2.6% for those living higher up. The survival rate is only 0.9% from the 16th floor and it drops to 0% from the 25th floor.

“This study tells us that it would be important to train residents of high-storey buildings in cardiopulmonary resuscitation or to use smartphones to request the intervention of volunteer rescuers”, concludes Ian Drennan, expert in emergency medicine at St Michael’s Hospital.

Heart disease in France

Each year in France about 100,000 people are struck by a heart attack, or heart attack. The treatment has made it possible, in ten years, to reduce mortality, but 13% of patients still die during the first year (including 7% in the acute phase), according to the High Authority for Health (HAS).

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