Factors influencing the delivery of automated external defibrillators by lay rescuers to the scene of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in schools.
Acute Medicine & Surgery · 2025-01-01 · Observational study
Abstract
AIM: Timely use of automated external defibrillators by lay rescuers significantly improves the chances of survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases. We aimed to identify the factors influencing whether lay rescuers bring automated external defibrillators to the scene of nontraumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in schoolchildren in Japan. METHODS: Data on out-of-hospital cardiac arrests among schoolchildren from April 2008 to December 2021 were obtained from the database of the Stop and Prevent cardIac aRrest, Injury, and Trauma in Schools study. A multivariate Modified Poisson regression analysis was performed to evaluate the factors influencing whether a lay rescuer brought an automated external defibrillator to the scene of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and the year-by-year changes in automated external defibrillator delivery for each factor were assessed. RESULTS: Of the 333 nontraumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrests across the entire study period, lay rescuers brought automated external defibrillators in 85.3% of cases. Female patients and incidents occurring during non-sports activities had lower proportions of automated external defibrillator delivery. Significant year-by-year improvements in automated external defibrillator delivery were observed, with the overall proportion increasing from 73.7% in 2008-2010 to 93.3% in 2020-2021. However, the trend was less pronounced for female students, non-sports activities, and incidents occurring in classrooms/other locations than their counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: AED delivery to the scene of OHCA in schools has improved overall, with the proportion increasing from 73.7% in 2008-2010 to 93.3% in 2020-2021. However, there is still room for improvement, particularly in female patients, and incidents during non-sports activities.
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Tags
Automated external defibrillator · Bystanders · Children
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