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Airports were the original environment for public access defibrillation because they have a high density of potential cardiac arrest patients and responders. These authors measured 30-day survival after cardiac arrest among cases at 70 international airports in nine countries from 2013 through 2015. During this period, 3.3 billion persons passed through these airports.
Among 800 cases, 74% were witnessed, 42% had an initial shockable rhythm, median emergency medical services (EMS) response time was 8 minutes, and 32% survived. The number of cases per airport over 3 years ranged from 1 to 72 (average, 41), with about 1 arrest for every 4 million passengers. People with an initial shockable rhythm had the best chances of survival (58%), although survival was remarkably high in others as well (27%).
Masterson S et al. Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival in international airports. Resuscitation 2018 Mar 14; [e-pub]. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resuscitation.2018.03.024)
Comment
These are among the highest rates of survival from cardiac arrest in any setting. Because the EMS response time was not dramatically faster than in other settings, the high rates of witnessed arrest, bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and access to defibrillators are most likely to have made the difference.