THURSDAY, May 18 (HealthDay News) -- Hispanic Americans in cardiac arrest are less likely [half as likely] than whites to receive bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), a new California study finds.

Researchers reviewed data on 1,239 cases from the Cardiac Arrest Resuscitation Evaluation in Los Angeles and the California Death Statistic Master File.

They found that 12.8 percent of Hispanic cardiac arrest victims received bystander CPR, compared with 23.9 percent of whites.

This disparity persisted even after the researchers adjusted for socioeconomic factors such as income and education.

Bystander CPR is known to provide improved outcomes in people who survive cardiac arrest.

"The Latino population is the fastest growing population in the United States, and clearly, it is of paramount importance to identify disparities affecting any historically underserved population. It is our hope that this study will bring about additional research specifically directed to addressing health-care disparities in underserved populations," lead investigator Dr. Peter C. Benson said in a prepared statement.

There is data to show that black Americans are also less likely than whites to receive BCPR, the researchers noted.

The findings are expected to be presented Saturday at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine annual meeting, in San Francisco.