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Death in correctional facilities: opportunities for automated external defibrillation
B Roessler1, R Fleischhackl, S Fleischhackl
1Research Institute of the Vienna Red Cross, Vienna, Austria.
Resuscitation
|February 9, 2007
Summary
Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) significantly reduced the time to AED prompt by four-fold in correctional facilities. This highlights the potential of AEDs to improve cardiac arrest response times for inmates.
Area of Science:
- Emergency medicine
- Public health
- Cardiology
Background:
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality is higher in correctional facilities compared to the general population.
- Rapid response to in-custody cardiac arrest is challenging due to security and access constraints.
- Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) were investigated for their potential to improve response times.
Observation:
- The study observed 10 cardiac arrest events requiring AED activation in Austrian correctional facilities over 13 months.
- The median Call-to-the-First-AED-Prompt (CTP) interval was 2.3 minutes.
- Emergency Medical Services (EMS) arrival time averaged 10.0 minutes.
Findings:
- Deployment of AEDs resulted in a four-fold reduction in the CTP-interval.
- Myocardial infarction accounted for 40% of cardiac arrests.
- CVD was identified as the cause of death in 38% of autopsied inmates.
Implications:
- AEDs can significantly decrease time-to-intervention for cardiac arrest in prisons.
- High rates of cardiovascular death underscore the need for targeted prevention programs in correctional settings.
- Implementing widespread AED availability could improve survival outcomes for inmates experiencing cardiac events.
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