Aug 13 (Reuters Health)
People suffering cardiac arrest may be more likely to survive if police officers are equipped with automated external defibrillators (AEDs)--the compact and consumer-friendly version of devices doctors use to jump-start patients' hearts in the hospital, new study findings suggest.AEDs automatically analyze heart rhythms and, if necessary, instruct the user to deliver an electric shock to normalize the rhythm. They are used to treat ventricular fibrillation, a condition in which the heart quivers in a series of uncoordinated contractions and requires an electric shock to begin pumping blood again.When a person suffers such a cardiac arrest, which occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating, there is only a narrow window of time-about 10 minutes-for use of AEDs to have any benefit.Over the years, AEDs have been increasingly kept on hand at airports, stadiums, and shopping malls to reduce response time to individuals in desperate need.
In the current investigation, health experts in Miami-Dade County, Florida, wondered if police officers equipped with AEDs might affect survival rates of cardiac arrest victims. The county implemented a new system in which both the police and emergency medical services were dispatched in the event of a cardiac arrest. There, as in most places, emergency rescue teams-such as ambulances, the fire department and paramedics-are already equipped with the potentially life-saving devices. However, some experts believe that police officers might have a quicker response time compared with other types of emergency response teams."The theory is that police are already on the road when the call comes in, so there is the potential for faster response," said lead author Dr. Robert J. Myerburg of the University of Miami School of Medicine in a prepared statement. To investigate, AED use by police was monitored between February 1999 and April 2001. During that time, 432 calls were made for cardiac arrests and the police were the first to arrive to the scene in 56% of the cases, according to the report published in the August 13th issue of the Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association."A 17.2% survival rate was observed for victims with ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycardia, compared with 9%" for standard emergency medical rescue measured before police started carrying AEDs, the authors write.However, about 61% of the cardiac arrest victims in the study had non- shockable heart rhythms and they derived no benefit from the AEDs. As result, the absolute survival benefit was reduced to 1.6%, with 7.6% survival with AEDs compared with 6% for those treated by emergency medical services."Because sudden cardiac arrest victims have only a 10- to 12-minute window to be successfully resuscitated, more people must learn to recognize a cardiac emergency and call 9-1-1 immediately so an appropriately equipped first responder can treat them in time," Dr. Vinay Nadkarni of the American Heart Association explained in a statement.
SOURCE: Circulation 2002;106:1058-1064.
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