Cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR, is indeed a lifesaver. It may come in handy especially to those who need saving from cardiac arrest. But if your heart stops in a Hispanic neighborhood, you're less likely to get this help and less likely to survive, according to a study published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation on Monday.

In the United States, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality and accounts for 23.5 percent of all deaths. Moreover, it is the second leading cause of deaths among Hispanics, following cancer.

According to an article by US News, the AHA study showed that the greater the percentage of Hispanic residents in a neighborhood, the lower the chances of receiving bystander CPR and the lower the chances of survival.

Specifically, in neighborhoods where at least half of the residents were Hispanic, those who suffer from cardiac arrest were 39 percent less likely to receive bystander CPR than those living in neighborhoods that were less than a quarter Hispanic. Meanwhile, in neighborhoods where more than three-fourths of the residents were Hispanic, people in cardiac arrest were 40 percent less likely to receive CPR from bystander and are 44 percent less likely to survive.

The study analyzed 2011-2015 data from out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in neighborhoods in Alabama, Texas, Milwaukee, and California. As well as Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon.

"We know that bystander CPR improves your chances for survival," said Audrey Blewer, the study's lead author and an assistant professor at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina. "But in Hispanic neighborhoods, it's not happening."

According to Blewer, more than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside hospitals each year, with 18.8 percent of those taking place in public settings. Moreover, about 9 out of 10 people whose hearts stop outside a hospital do not survive.

If only bystander CPR is administered, nearly 45 percent of deaths would have been avoided, prior research shows.

The study lead author said her study implies that there is a need for extensive CPR training in Hispanic communities, as well as understanding why these disparities exist.

Marina Del Rios, an associate professor in the department of emergency medicine and director of social emergency medicine and population health at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago, cited that "a lot of it really has to do with fear."

Del Rios, who was not involved in the study, recalled a 2015 study of Hispanic neighborhoods in Denver identifying their distrust towards law enforcement, immigration status, language issues and other barriers which prevents them from calling 911. The study also found that there is a lack of knowledge about cardiac arrest and how to administer CPR. But Del Rios who works with the 911 dispatch center in Chicago, said that that could be overcome with help from 911 dispatchers, only if people were willing to call and dispatchers were able to communicate in Spanish.

Del Rios who encouraged the Hispanic communities on the greater use of telephone-assisted CPR in minority and low-income neighborhoods, also expressed her concern with the recent trends.

According to her, this study aligns with what she has observed in Chicago. "We have seen a trend with bystander CPR where there is an increase in white and some minority neighborhoods, but in Hispanic neighborhoods, that has not been the same," Del Rios said.

"In fact," she added, "there's been a decrease."

"The last few years, politically there has been a real fear of deportation," she said. "It makes it more difficult for people to call and then stay on the phone long enough to follow directions. And then there's the language barrier as well. It's a confluence of negative characteristics that are more prevalent in Hispanic neighborhoods than in other communities."

To put an end to this long-standing problem, Del Rios said there is a need for a nationwide legislation that protects people who call 911 from deportation as well as a technology that helps 911 dispatchers translate directions into Spanish.