Association of race and socioeconomic status with automatic external defibrillator training prevalence in the United States

Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) improve survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), however bystander use remains low. Limited AED training may contribute to infrequent use of these devices, yet no studies have assessed AED training nationally. Given previously documented racial disparities among Latinos in CPR provision and OHCA outcomes, we hypothesized that racial and socioeconomic differences exist in AED training, with Whites having increased training compared to Latinos and higher socioeconomic status being associated with increased training. We administered a random digit dial survey to a nationally-representative adult sample. Using survey-weighted logistic regression adjusted for location, we assessed race and socioeconomic status of individuals trained in AEDs compared to never-trained individuals. From 09/2015–11/2015, 9022 individuals completed the survey. Of those, 68% had never been AED trained. Self-identified Whites and Blacks were more likely to have AED training compared to Latinos (OR: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.43–2.53 and OR: 1.73, 95% CI: 1.39–2.15, respectively). Higher educational attainment was associated with an increased likelihood of training, with an OR of 4.36 (95% CI: 2.57–7.40) for graduate school compared to less than high school education. Increased household income was not associated with an increase in AED training (p = .08). The minority of respondents reported AED training. Whites and Blacks were more likely to be trained than Latinos. Higher educational attainment was associated with an increased likelihood of training. These findings highlight an important opportunity to improve training disparities and layperson response to OHCA.