This Article Full Text Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by SoRelle, R. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by SoRelle, R.

(Circulation. 2004;109:e9036-e9037.)
© 2004 American Heart Association, Inc.

Cardiovascular News

Ruth SoRelle, MPH

Circulation Newswriter

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Public Access Defibrillation Spreading

Public access defibrillation—the use of automated external defibrillation outside of traditional emergency medical services—is becoming increasingly important, said researchers from the Seattle and King County Emergency Medical Services Division, Seattle Medic One, and the University of Washington School of Medicine in a report in this week’s issue of the journal Circulation (Circulation. 2004;109:1859–1863).

Researchers led by Michael K. Copass, MD, of the University of Washington looked at public access defibrillation in the Seattle area in a cohort study of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases associated with heart disease between January 1, 1999, and December 31, 2002. In this case, public access defibrillation involved treatment with an automated external defibrillator (AED) by people who are not part of traditional emergency medical services. As part of a voluntary Community Responder AED Program and a registry of public access defibrillation AEDs, more than 4000 people in the area were trained in the use of the devices as well as in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. An estimated 475 AEDs were placed in various settings over a 4-year period.

During the study period, 50 out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients were treated by public access defibrillation before emergency medical services personnel arrived on the scene. That represented 1.33% of the 3754 cardiac arrests treated by emergency medical services personnel. The proportion of people treated by public access defibrillation increased each year, from 0.82% in 1999 to 1.12% in the year 2000, 1.41% in 2001, and 2.05% in 2002.

Half of the patients treated by public access defibrillation survived to . . . [Full Text of this Article]