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A poor association between out-of-hospital cardiac arrest location and public automated external defibrillator

Matthew J Levy1, Kevin G Seaman, Michael G Millin

  • 1Department of Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. levy@jhmi.edu

Prehospital and Disaster Medicine
|May 25, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Strategic placement of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) shows a weak correlation with actual cardiac arrest locations. Most cardiac arrests occur in homes, while AEDs are commonly placed in public facilities, indicating a poor association.

Area of Science:

  • Emergency medicine
  • Public health preparedness

Background:

  • Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are crucial for treating sudden cardiac arrest.
  • Strategic placement of AEDs is a key focus in emergency response planning.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the correlation between the placement of AEDs and the actual locations where cardiac arrests occur.
  • To assess the effectiveness of current AED deployment strategies.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective review of the Maryland Cardiac Arrest Database and Maryland AED Registry.
  • Comparison of AED location types with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest locations in Howard County, Maryland.
  • Statistical analysis using scatter diagrams and r2 values.

Main Results:

  • A weak relationship (r2 values of 0.054 and 0.051) was found between AED locations and witnessed/total cardiac arrests.
  • No AEDs were registered in high-frequency cardiac arrest locations like private homes or nursing facilities.
  • Cardiac arrests did not occur at common AED placement sites such as community pools or schools.

Conclusions:

  • A significant mismatch exists between where automated external defibrillators are placed and where cardiac arrests typically happen.
  • Current AED placement strategies may not align with actual public health needs for rapid defibrillation.
Abstract

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