The lives of twice as many heart-attack victims were saved by volunteers using automated external defibrillators than those using traditional cardiopulmonary resuscitation methods, according to a nationwide study reported in the Aug. 12 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Robert Zalenski, M.D., WSU professor of emergency medicine, led research efforts locally, in one of 24 North American study sites.
"We succeeded in doubling survival by having defibrillators in public places, like museums and Meijer stores," Dr. Zalenski said. "Detroit was one of the most successful of the 24 sites."
The implications of the study are far reaching; about one-quarter of the 300,000 people who die from cardiac arrest annually are outside the home.
As part of the two-and-a-half-year study, which was coordinated by the University of Washington at Seattle, employees of 40 Meijer stores, the Museum of African-American History and the Detroit Institute of Arts were instructed to use defibrillators or rapid-response CPR in case of cardiac arrest.
The low-energy defibrillators were voice-prompted and guided by a "smart computer" that would not allow a shock unless it detected a grossly abnormal heart rhythm. Each store randomly assigned to use defibrillators were provided four instruments so that they would be within a three-minute reach of anywhere in the store.
Nationwide, more than 19,000 volunteer responders from 993 community locations participated. Both those in the CPR and defibrillator groups had similar location, volunteer and patient characteristics, but 30 people who suffered heart attacks and were treated with defibrillators and CPR survived as opposed to only 15 treated with CPR alone.
"Training and equipping volunteers to attempt early defibrillation within a structured response system can increase the number of survivors to hospital discharge after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in public locations," according tot he Public Access Defibrillation Trial Investigators. "Trained laypersons can use AEDs safely and effectively."