TV Programs Mischaracterize Who Likely Needs CPR and Where

TUESDAY, Jan. 13, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- TV characters are more likely to receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) than people in real life, according to a research letter published online Jan. 12 in Circulation: Population Health and Outcomes.Ore Fawole, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, and colleagues assessed depictions of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and compression-only CPR (COCPR) in scripted television. The analysis included 169 episodes released after 2008, the year the American Heart Association endorsed COCPR.The researchers found that 93 episodes depicted OHCA, including 91.4 percent depicting CPR. Of these, nearly two-thirds (63.5 percent) depicted CPR administered out-of-hospital by a layperson who would likely not be trained in basic life support for health care providers. Among these 54 episodes, adherence to correct COCPR was found in 29.6 percent of episodes (16 episodes). In nearly half of episodes (48.1 percent; 26 episodes), breaths were given along with compressions, and in 42.6 percent, the layperson checked for a pulse. In the analyzed episodes, 20.4 percent of OHCAs occurred at home, far less than in the real world, and 58 percent of those who experienced an OHCA received COCPR, which is also greater than in the real world. Additionally, more than half of the people who received hands-only CPR on TV were younger than 40 years old, which is younger than in the real world."What we saw on screen mirrored real-life disparities in CPR receipt," Fawole said in a statement. "It could be that what is on TV is a reflection of real-life, or that what people are watching on TV reinforces implicit biases or stereotypes that contribute to lower rates of CPR receipt for women, Black adults, and Latino adults. We hope that this research paves the way for accurate TV depictions of CPR that can help close the gaps on these disparities for all people to receive CPR and ultimately save more lives."Abstract/Full Text.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

TV Programs Mischaracterize Who Likely Needs CPR and Where

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