Out of hospital cardiac arrest

A study looking at survival following out of hospital cardiac arrest in a selected group of more than a thousand people (

) discovered that 80% of non-medically witnessed events happen in the home. Such events are less likely to be witnessed, less likely to receive bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation and (perhaps as a result) only have a 2% thirty-day survival rate. Having a cardiac arrest witnessed by a doctor or paramedic increases chance of thirty-day survival to 35%. A large proportion of patients experience more than 15 minutes of premonitory symptoms before having cardiac arrest—an early call for help could massively improve the chance of survival.

Home automated external defibrillators?

If you are worried about the outcome after having a cardiac arrest at home, perhaps it is time to consider a radical solution. An alternative to relying upon an early call to the emergency services could be to install a defibrillator in your home. In a study of 172 cases, nearly 30% of patients treated with an automated external defibrillator by a lay person …