Phone app alerts did not increase bystander CPR rates in study of 2 major population areas

Research Highlights:

• Alerting nearby CPR-trained volunteers through a smartphone app did not increase the likelihood that a person experiencing cardiac arrest received CPR or use of an AED before professional responders arrived, according to a study conducted in British Columbia and Columbus, Ohio.
• Researchers randomly assigned cardiac arrest 911 calls to either standard EMS dispatch only or standard dispatch and PulsePoint Respond alerts to nearby first-responder volunteers, comparing response times of both.
• CPR or AED use by a bystander occurred in 69% of cardiac arrests with PulsePoint alerts and 72% with the standard 911 response alone, with no statistically significant difference between the groups.
• Note: The study featured in this news release is a research abstract. Abstracts presented at the American Heart Association's scientific meetings are not peer-reviewed, and the findings are considered preliminary until published as a full manuscript in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

Embargoed until 3:45 p.m. CT/4:45 p.m. ET, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026

CHICAGO, Nov. 7, 2026 - A smartphone app designed to alert nearby CPR-trained volunteers resulted in similar response times for bystander CPR or automated external defibrillator (AED) use compared with the standard 911 response for people experiencing cardiac arrest, according to new, preliminary, independent late-breaking science presented at the American Heart Association's Resuscitation Science Symposium 2026. The meeting will be held Nov. 7-8, 2026 in Chicago and will feature the most recent advances related to treating cardiopulmonary arrest and life-threatening traumatic injury.

A collaborative of researchers in British Columbia and Columbus, Ohio, randomly assigned cardiac arrest calls to receive either the standard 911 emergency response or the standard response plus PulsePoint Respond alerts to nearby volunteers. Bystanders provided CPR or used an AED in 69% of cardiac arrests when PulsePoint alerts were activated, compared with 72% with the standard 911 response alone, a difference that was not statistically significant.

PulsePoint Respond is a smartphone application. In communities that have implemented the system, it connects with the local 911 dispatch center to alert nearby people who have indicated that they are willing and able to perform CPR in an emergency. EMS agencies subscribe to the service for a fee; however, the app is free to download for community first-responder volunteers.

"In the event of a cardiac arrest, calling 911 is essential, yet even a rapid professional response can take several minutes - time the person in cardiac arrest cannot afford to lose. The tragedy is that people willing and able to help may be nearby without knowing an emergency is unfolding," said Steven Brooks, M.D., M.H.Sc., senior lead author and a co-principal investigator of the study and a professor in emergency medicine and public health sciences at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. "We found that bystander CPR was already common without alerts in the regions we studied. In the control group, 73% of

patients received bystander CPR. This unexpectedly high rate of bystander CPR may have limited the opportunity for alerted responders to provide additional benefit."

What are the study's key findings?

• Among 355 people included in the primary analysis, bystander CPR or AED use before professional responders arrived occurred in 123 of 178 people (69%) when PulsePoint alerts were activated and 127 of 177 people (72%) when PulsePoint alerts were not activated. The site-adjusted difference was not statistically significant.
• Bystander CPR occurred in 70% of people in the PulsePoint alert group and 73% in the standard dispatch group; bystander AED use occurred in 15% and 17%, respectively. About 21% of people in each group survived to hospital discharge.
• Most cardiac arrests analyzed occurred in urban locations (91%). Median time from the 911 call to EMS arrival was 5.6 minutes in the alert group and 5.9 minutes in the no-alert group. In 57% of activated incidents, only one app user was within 400 meters, and 91% of incidents had 4 or fewer volunteer first-responders nearby.
• The findings apply to the public-location response model tested in these two regions. The trial does not answer whether benefits would differ for cardiac arrests in private homes (where most out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur), in settings with longer emergency response times (e.g., rural areas, high rise buildings), or in areas with a higher density of nearby volunteer first-responders. Researchers said these remain important questions for future research.
• Bystander CPR rates were high even without responder alerts, with 73% of patients receiving CPR. Researchers noted that this strong baseline bystander CPR response may have reduced the potential to see an additional benefit from the alerts to the volunteer first-responder network.

"Although our study didn't show the PulsePoint smartphone alerts increasing bystander CPR and AED use in public locations, it will contribute evidence to help the global resuscitation community, emergency medical services and policymakers assess the potential of this approach to improve early bystander treatment," Brooks said. "We will also examine PulsePoint Respond as it was implemented in our trial, exploring how factors such as volunteer availability and local conditions may have influenced its effectiveness."

What are the study's details, background, design and limitations?

• Researchers reviewed 17,547 randomly assigned 911 calls for possible cardiac arrest in public locations from June 8, 2021, to March 27, 2026 in British Columbia and Columbus, Ohio. The primary analysis included 355 people: 178 assigned to alert activation and 177 assigned to alert suppression.
• Because the calls were random before the cardiac arrest could be confirmed, whether the emergency met the study's eligibility requirements was determined later through existing cardiac arrest databases. For cases found to be eligible for analysis, people having a cardiac arrest had to be treated by a paramedic in a public location with at least one PulsePoint Respond user within 400 meters of the incident at dispatch.
• In communities that have implemented PulsePoint Respond, developed by the nonprofit PulsePoint Foundation, the system connects with the local 911 dispatch center to alert nearby people who have indicated that they are willing and able to perform CPR in an emergency. Emergency medical services agencies subscribe for a fee; however, the app is free to download for community first-responder volunteers.
• When a suspected cardiac arrest occurs in a public space, nearby CPR responders can receive a "CPR Needed" notification through the app at the same time professional emergency responders are dispatched. The app displays the reported emergency location and the locations of nearby AEDs. Volunteers may include CPR-trained community members and off-duty health professionals. The aim is to get CPR started and an AED to the person sooner, while professional emergency responder help is on the way.
• The research has several study design limitations, including its focus on cardiac arrest in public locations with at least one nearby PulsePoint user. So, the findings may not necessarily apply to cardiac arrests that occur in private homes or communities with different responder networks.

Co-authors, disclosures and funding sources are listed in the abstract.

Statements and conclusions of studies that are presented at the American Heart Association's scientific meetings are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the Association's policy or position. The Association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. Abstracts presented at the Association's scientific meetings are not peer-reviewed, rather, they are curated by independent review panels and are considered based on the potential to add to the diversity of scientific issues and views discussed at the meeting. The findings are considered preliminary until published as a full manuscript in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

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Additional Resources:

• Multimedia is available on the right column of the release link
• Link to abstract and the American Heart Association's Resuscitation Science Symposium 2026 Online Program Planner
• American Heart Association news release: Updated CPR guidelines tackle choking response, opioid-related emergencies and a revised Chain of Survival (Oct. 2025)
• American Heart Association health information: 2025 American Heart Association Guidelines for CPR and ECC
• American Heart Association health initiative: Join the Nation of Lifesavers by learning CPR today
• About Resuscitation Science Symposium 2026
• For more news at the American Heart Association's Resuscitation Science Symposium 2026, follow us on X @HeartNews, #ReSS26

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