Bee Gees can help with CPR. Seriously.

Update:  Dick Kaplan, U.Ill., reports to me: 

My daughter the EMT informs me that CPR can be alsoperformed appropriately to the song, “Another One Bites the Dust” byQueen. For obvious reasons, using the song “Stayin Alive” is better publicrelations.”

Thanks for the tip!

US medics have found the Bee Gees’ 1977 disco anthem, Stayin’ Alive,provides an ideal beat to follow when performing CPR on a victim of acardiac arrest.  A University of Illinois medical school study said it contained 103beats per minute, close to the recommended rate of 100 chestcompressions per minute.

Dr David Matlock said many people were put off performing CPR as they were not sure about keeping the correct rhythm.  He said CPR could triple cardiac arrest survival rates when performed properly.  The study by the University of Illinois College of Medicine saw15 doctors and students performing CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation)on mannequins while listening to Stayin’ Alive. They were asked totheir time chest compressions with the beat.

Five weeks later, they did the same drill without the music, but were told to think of the song while doing compressions.

The average number of compressions the first time was 109 per minute;the second time it was 113 – more than recommended by the AmericanHeart Association, but better than too few, according to Dr Matlock.

“It drove them and motivated them to keep up the rate, which is the most important thing,” he told the Associated Press.

Source/more:  BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7678371.stm