FAQ

Normal breathing is steady, quiet, and happens twelve to twenty times per minute in adults. Agonal breathing is irregular, loud, and happens only two or three times per minute, sometimes less. Normal breathing delivers oxygen to the blood. Agonal gasping does not. Anyone showing agonal breathing while unresponsive is in cardiac arrest and needs CPR.

The simplest way to tell the difference is to look at the whole picture. A person breathing normally will be responsive, with a regular chest rise and fall and quiet airflow. A person with agonal breathing will be unresponsive, with infrequent gasps and often a snoring or gurgling sound. The chest may move briefly between gasps before stopping altogether.

If you cannot tell whether breathing is normal, treat it as not normal. The cost of starting CPR on someone who turns out to be fine is minor. The cost of not starting CPR on someone in cardiac arrest is fatal.

Category: Cardiac Arrest

Yes. If someone has collapsed, is unresponsive, and is gasping or breathing abnormally, treat it as cardiac arrest. Call 999 and start chest compressions straight away. The 999 dispatcher will guide you through what to do. Do not wait to see whether the gasping stops first. Every minute without CPR cuts the chance of survival.

Gasping during cardiac arrest is called agonal breathing, and it is not effective breathing. The person is not getting any oxygen. Bystander hesitation is one of the biggest factors in poor cardiac arrest outcomes in the UK. A common reason for hesitation is uncertainty about whether the person is really not breathing.

If you are unsure, start CPR. The Resuscitation Council UK and every major guideline are clear: if someone is unresponsive and not breathing normally, begin chest compressions. You will not harm a person who turns out to be alive, and you may save the life of someone in cardiac arrest.

Category: Cardiac Arrest

No. Agonal breathing is a brain stem reflex, not real breathing. The person is unresponsive, the heart is not circulating blood, and oxygen is not reaching the body. Without immediate CPR and defibrillation, they will die.

This is one of the most dangerous misunderstandings in bystander response to cardiac arrest. Because the chest still moves and there is still some sound of breathing, witnesses often assume the person is breathing normally. They wait for paramedics instead of starting CPR. By the time help arrives, the chance of survival has often gone.

If someone is unresponsive and you see agonal breathing, treat it as cardiac arrest. Call 999 and start chest compressions. You cannot make things worse, but you can save a life.

Category: Cardiac Arrest

Agonal breathing usually lasts a few minutes after someone goes into cardiac arrest. Some people stop gasping within thirty seconds, while others continue for several minutes. Once the gasps stop, the person has gone into full respiratory arrest. CPR should already be underway by that point.

The length of time agonal breathing continues is not a useful measure of how long someone has left. The brain begins to suffer damage from lack of oxygen within four to six minutes of cardiac arrest. Survival drops sharply with every minute that passes without chest compressions and a defibrillator. Do not wait for the gasping to stop. Start CPR as soon as you recognise it.

Category: Cardiac Arrest

Agonal breathing usually sounds like loud snoring, gurgling, choking, or moaning. Some people describe it as a wet rasping noise or a low groan. It is not the soft, regular sound of normal breathing, and it comes in slow gasps rather than a steady rhythm.

Witnesses often describe being startled by how loud the sound is. It can be loud enough to wake someone in another room, which is sometimes how a cardiac arrest at home is first noticed. Despite how dramatic the sound is, the person making it is unresponsive and not breathing properly.

Category: Cardiac Arrest