By Dr Rob Cooper, Consultant Cardiologist, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital

World Heart Day takes place every year on 29^th September and aimed at drawing people’s attention to the range of conditions that can cause issues with people’s hearts.

I have a particular interest in managing inherited cardiac conditions, cardiomyopathies and sports cardiology.

Every week in the United Kingdom 12 people under the age of 35 die of cardiac arrest. Many of them unaware they were suffering from a cardiac condition.

This issue was brought into focus when Danish footballer Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch during a Euro 2020 match.

The 29-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest and was treated using basic life support followed by the lifesaving use of a defibrillator. While the situation was traumatic to witness for those in the stadium, including his family,  team-mates, and people watching on TV, what I saw most was good medical care.

By the time he was carried off, Eriksen was conscious and he walked out of hospital a week later after a procedure to insert a pacemaker defibrillator.

Having a defibrillator on hand in these situations makes a massive difference, I believe we need many more of them in public places like schools and sports centres.

People should not be scared to help if a similar situation arises, you could save a life. Administering chest compressions will help keep blood pumping round the body until the heart can be started again with an automated external defibrillator (AED). There are instructions on the box to guide how to put the plastic paddles on the chest, and then spoken guidance once activated. You cannot harm yourself or the person suffering a cardiac arrest with an AED.,

This World Heart Day, I would advise everyone to watch some online videos like the one below about cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and using a defibrillator (British Heart Foundation, Cardiac Risk in the Young websites).

You can’t harm the patient. You can’t harm yourself. All you will be doing is giving them a much better chance of surviving a cardiac arrest.