Location of cardiac arrests in the public access defibrillation trial.
BACKGROUND
The Public Access Defibrillation (PAD) Trial found an overall doubling in the number of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (CA) survivors when a lay responder team was equipped with an automated external defibrillator (AED), compared with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) alone.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the types of facilities that participated in the trial and to report the incidence of CA and survival in these different types of facilities.


METHODS
In this post-hoc analysis of PAD Trial data, the physical characteristics of the participating facilities and the numbers of presumed CAs, treatable CAs, and survivors are reported for each category of facilities.


RESULTS
There were 625 presumed CAs at 1,260 participating facilities. Just under half (n = 291) of the presumed CAs were classified as treatable CAs. Treatable CAs occurred at a rate of 2.9 per 1,000 person-years of exposure; rates were highest in fitness centers (5.1) and golf courses (4.8) and lowest in office complexes (0.7) and hotels (0.7). Survival from treatable CA was highest in recreational complexes (0.5), public transportation sites (0.4), and fitness centers (0.4) and lowest in office complexes (0.1) and residential facilities (0.0).


CONCLUSIONS
During the PAD Trial, the exposure-adjusted rate of treatable CA was highest in fitness centers and golf courses, but the incidence per facility was low to moderate. Survival from treatable cardiac arrest was highest in recreational complexes, public transportation facilities, and fitness centers.
Reed
David B
DB
Department of Emergency Medicine, State University of New York, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA. reeddahscyr.edu
Birnbaum
Alice
A
Brown
Lawrence H
LH
O'Connor
Robert E
RE
Fleg
Jerome L
JL
Peberdy
Mary A
MA
Van Ottingham
Lois
L
Hallstrom
Alfred P
AP
D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D047548:Defibrillators / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008875:Middle Aged; D011633:Public Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014838:Volunteers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data