Category: News

Geographical setting is seldomly taken into account when investigating out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). It is a common notion that living in rural areas means a lower chance of fast and effective help when suffering a time-critical event. This retrospective cohort study investigates this hypothesis and compares across healthcare-divided administrative regions. We investigated incidence, EMS response time and 30-day survival according to area type and subsidiarily by healthcare-divided administrative region in Denmark.

The majority (71%) of 8,579 OHCAs were residential, and 53.2% of all arrests occurred in the most densely populated cell group amongst residential arrests. This group had a median EMS response time of six minutes, whereas the most sparsely populated group had a median of 10 minutes. Public arrests also had a median response time of six minutes.

Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that while EMS response times in Denmark are longer in the rural areas, there is no statistically significant decrease in survival compared to the most densely populated areas.

 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35146464/

Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) use various shock protocols with different characteristics when deployed in pediatric mode. The aim of this study is to assess and compare the safety and efficacy of different AED pediatric protocols using novel experimental approaches.

Two defibrillation protocols (A and B) were assessed across two studies:

• Protocol A: escalating (50-75-90 J) defibrillation waveform with higher voltage, shorter duration and equal phase durations.
• Protocol B: non-escalating (50-50-50 J) defibrillation waveform with lower voltage, longer duration and unequal phase durations. Animals were randomized into two groups, receiving three shocks from Protocol A (50-75-90 J) or B (50-50-50 J).

Conclusions: There is no evidence that administration of clinically relevant shock sequences, without experimental confounders, result in significant myocardial damage in this model of pediatric resuscitation. Typical variations in AED pediatric mode settings do not affect defibrillation safety and efficacy.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35146463/

February is National Heart Month and the perfect time to take a course to learn what to do if someone is having a heart attack, how to perform CPR, use an automated external defibrillator (AED) and help save lives. Here are details of American Red Cross’ initiative but there will be an equivalent course near you if interested.

https://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-events/news/2021/national-heart-month-get-trained-and-help-save-lives.html

Currently, there are around 7.6 million people in the UK living with heart and circulatory diseases and 1 in 2 of us will experience a heart or circulatory condition during our lifetime. However, making small changes to your daily routine can make a big difference to your heart health, which in the long term could help reduce your risk of heart and circulatory related conditions such as diabetes, stroke, vascular dementia or heart disease. Here are some of the ways which you can improve your heart health and support us during Heart Month

https://www.bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/news-from-the-bhf/news-archive/2022/february/support-the-bhf-this-heart-month

Objectives: Sudden cardiac arrest/death (SCA/D) is the leading medical cause of death in athletes. Masters athletes (≥35 years old) are increasing in numbers and are responsible for the vast majority of sport-related SCDs. Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and emergency action plans (EAPs) have been shown to unequivocally reduce SCD, however, their prevalence in masters athletics remains unknown. We sought to identify the perceived AED accessibility and EAP preparedness amongst a group of masters athletes.

Results: Sixty-eight percent of 735 athletes completed the survey. Ninety-seven percent and 99% of athletes believed CPR and AEDs were effective at saving lives, respectively.  Conclusions: These findings indicate that nearly all athletes believe CPR and AED are effective at saving lives, but only a minority are aware of an AED near their place of exercise. Master athletes underestimate their own risk for exercise-related cardiac events, affirming the importance of educating masters athletes on their increased cardiac risk.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35088628/

Maintenance is essential: it is not enough to buy a defibrillator and place it in position to be sure that it is working properly when it needs to be used, especially years later with two standards that describe the obligation of defibrillator maintenance by purchasers.  An operator’s electronic check allows for specific and detailed testing of the AED including electrodes check

https://www.emergency-live.com/marketplace/proper-defibrillator-maintenance-to-ensure-maximum-efficiency/

A Derry-based community cycle group in Northern Ireland is now benefitting from a brand new ‘rescue rucksack’ defibrillator’ thanks to the generosity of a local business. The Bogside and Brandywell Health Forum’s (BBHF) cycle group, which runs every Saturday, was enabled to buy life-saving equipment through a grant funded by Power NI. 

The community-based health forum offers a holistic approach to health and wellbeing in the community, schools and in workplaces. “Our cycling sessions cater for all abilities and participants and are led by two facilitators at each outing. We wanted to secure a defibrillator that could be carried by a leader on his or her back during their cycle journeys”

https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/derry-based-cycle-group-given-22811693

The survival rate following a sports-related cardiac arrest (SrSCA) almost tripled over a recent 12-year period, due in large part to increased bystander use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), results of a new study from France suggest.

In an analysis of hospital data published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers found that more frequent basic life support implementation by bystanders, including a threefold increase in the rate of bystander CPR and an 18-fold increase in the rate of automated external defibrillator use, account for the improved outcome, with a survival rate at hospital discharge reaching 67% during the last 2-year study period.

https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2021.11.012

The optimal locations and cost-effectiveness of placing automated external defibrillators(AEDs) for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest(OHCAs) in urban residential neighbourhoods are unclear. We used prospectively collected data from 2016 to 2018 from the British Columbia OHCA Registry to examine the utilization and cost-effectiveness of hypothetical AED deployment in municipalities with a population of over 100 000.  The estimated radius of effectiveness around each AED was 625 m for automobile and 240m for pedestrian retrieval.

With AEDs placed outside each school and community center, 2567(64%) and 605(15%) of OHCAs fell within the radii of effectiveness for automobile and pedestrian retrieval, respectively. For each AED, there was an average of 1.20-2.66 and 0.25-0.61 in-range OHCAs per year for automobile retrieval and pedestrian retrieval, respectively, depending on the deployment model. All of our proposed surpassed the cost-effectiveness threshold of 0.125 OHCA/AED/year provided >5.3-11.6% in-range AEDs were brought-to-scene.

Conclusions: The systematic deployment of AEDs at schools and community centers in urban neighbourhoods may result in increased application and be a cost-effective public health intervention.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35031391/

Objective: To evaluate whether a text message (TM) alert system for trained volunteers contributed to early cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs), return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) and survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients in a region with above-average survival rates. Design: Data on all OHCA patients in 2012 (non-TM group) were compared with those of all OHCA patients in 2018 (TM group). The association of the presence of a TM alert system with ROSC and survival was assessed with multivariate regression analyses.

TM responders reached 42 OHCA patients (15.9%) earlier than the first responders or ambulance. They connected 31 of these 42 OHCA patients (73.8%) to an AED before the ambulance arrived, leading to a higher percentage of AEDs being attached in 2018 compared to the 2012 non-TM group (55% vs 46%, p = 0.03). 

ROSC was achieved more often in the TM group (61.0% vs 29.4%, p < 0.01).  Conclusion: A TM alert system seems to improve the chain of survival; because TM responders reached patients early, AEDs were attached more often and more OHCA patients achieved ROSC.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34993887/