Willingness to act in a cardiac arrest and awareness of automated external defibrillators: a survey of the Swedish population.
Resuscitation plus · 2026-07-27 · Observational study
Abstract
PURPOSE: A population-based survey on opinions about CPR education, willingness to act, and awareness of AEDs location. METHOD: A survey was compiled by the commercial Novus Group International, Stockholm, Sweden in January 2026. Novus use their Sweden Panel, which aim to mirror the public opinion and consist of about 60,000 people aged 18-84 years. Novus uses purposeful recruitment of representative participants until the target 1000 people have replied to the survey. RESULTS: Among the 1026 responders, there was an equal distribution of age, gender and one third reported training CPR within 24 months. The majority (n = 820,80%) stated that they would be willing to act if an unknown person gets a cardiac arrest, while 7% (n = 69) stated that would not be willing to act. Those with recent CPR training were more prone to act and contradictory, those who had never done CPR training (12% of the participants) were most unsure if they would be willing to act. Around half (n = 539) feel confident using an AED. Those with a lower degree of comfort was older women (57%), retired (52%) and never have taken CPR training (81%). Half (n = 538) know where the closest AED is at their workplace compared to one fifth when they are at home. The majority (n = 870) believe it should be mandatory to have government AEDs available 24/7. CONCLUSIONS: A representative sample of the Swedish population is trained in CPR, propose that they are willing to act in a cardiac arrest, but few know where their nearest AED is located when at home. Recent CPR training adds confidence and awareness, but any training seems to have a lifelong effect.