Location of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in Takatsuki City: where should automated external defibrillator be placed.
BACKGROUND
Public access defibrillation has been introduced to improve the outcome of patients experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). The aim of this study was to examine the best location for automated external defibrillators (AED).


RESULTS
All patients who were resuscitated after OHCA by emergency medical technicians in Takatsuki City over 6 years were enrolled. The annual incidence of OHCA and the number of 1-year survivors with good neurological outcome in each of 21 sub-location categories were investigated, as well as the ratio of ventricular fibrillation (VF) as the initial rhythm to the total OHCA in each of 5 location categories. In total, there were 1,112 patients with OHCA, 62 (5.6%) with VF and 14 (1.3%) with good neurological outcome. The annual incidence of cardiac arrest (CA) per site was the highest in railway stations (0.3000), followed by hospitals (0.1802), homes for the aged (0.1115), playgrounds (0.0769) and golf courses (0.0667). However, none of the patients experiencing CA at railway stations, homes for the aged and golf courses had a good neurological outcome. The ratio of VF to total CA was the highest in the workplace (35.3%).


CONCLUSIONS
The 6 locations, including workplace, are recommended as appropriate locations for AED.
Muraoka
Hideyuki
H
Department of Emergency Medicine, Osaka Mishima Emergency and Critical Care Center, Takatsuki, Japan. muraoka118@osaka-mishima.jp
Ohishi
Yasuo
Y
Hazui
Hiroshi
H
Negoro
Nobuyuki
N
Murai
Motonobu
M
Kawakami
Makiko
M
Nishihara
Isao
I
Fukumoto
Hitoshi
H
Morita
Hiroshi
H
Hanafusa
Toshiaki
T
D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D047548:Defibrillators; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D005260:Female; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000628:therapy*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies