Education in basic life support is widely proposed to increase survival and quality-of-life in out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest. We aimed to assess knowledge, skills and attitudes regarding acute myocardial infarction and sudden cardiac arrest among university students of all fields of knowledge.

Methods The local Ethical Research Committee approved this cross-sectional study. An electronic survey “KIDS SAVE LIVES BRAZIL” was sent to 58,862 students of 82 disciplines in three universities, aged ≥ 18 years. The survey covered three categories: knowledge, skills, and attitude. Each category was graded between 0 and 10 points (the highest).

Results Among university students, 4,803 undergraduates (8.2 %) answered the survey, and were divided in three groups of disciplines: medicine (219, ∼21.7 years, 38% male), other-health-care (n=1,058; ∼22.9 years; 36% male), and nonhealth-care (n=3,526; ∼22.9 years; 35% male). All three groups showed significant differences between them (p<0.001). The nonhealth-care compared with medicine and other-health-care group showed, respectively, the lowest (p<0.001) median scores (25-75%) in knowledge [4.0 (0.0-9.3), 4.0 (4.0-8.0), and 4.0 (4.0-4.7)], skills [2.4 (1.2-3.3), 6.4 (4.0-8.3), 4.0 (2.4-6.2], and attitude [5.9 (5.9-6.8), 7.3 (5.9-7.3), and 7.3 (5.9-7.3)].

Conclusion University students have the willingness to help victims suffering from acute myocardial infarction or sustaining sudden cardiac arrest. However, nonhealth-care students markedly lack knowledge and skills to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillation. Our findings reveal a stark difference in basic life support competencies between students in health-care related fields and those in nonhealthy-care fields, emphasizing the need for universal basic life support training.

KEY MESSAGES 1. Our findings reveal a stark difference in basic life support competencies between students in health-care related fields and those in nonhealth fields, emphasizing the need for universal basic life support training.

2. An action for curriculum modification to include basic life support training for all students is timely and practical, given the global burden of heart disease and the proven benefits of early intervention in sudden cardiac arrest cases.

3. Our study contributes significantly to the ongoing discussion about public health education and the role of nonhealth professionals in emergency medical response. It may serve as a catalyst for policy changes within educational institutions and among healthcare policymakers, aiming to create a more resilient and responsive community in the face of out-of-hospital medical emergencies.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

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We also would like to thank the São Paulo University Rectory of Graduation (processes n. 20.1.10453.1.8 and 20.1.3952.1.2) for providing scholarships to undergraduates and the São Paulo State Research Foundation (FAPESP 2019/27652-4 and FAPESP 2023/12891-9) for providing research funding. The funding sources did not have any involvement in the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, the writing of the manuscript, and the decision to submit the article for publication.

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

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The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

This is a cross-sectional observational study of the KIDS SAVE LIVES BRAZIL project with approval of the Ethical Committee of the Faculty of Medicine, São Paulo University, Brazil (CAAE: 25218819.0.0000.0065).

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I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

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Data will be available after 6 to 12 months of the publication with direct request to the authors.