Incidence and Outcome of Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest With Public-Access Defibrillation: A Descriptive Epidemiological Study in a Large Urban Community

Background: Detailed characteristics of those who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) with public-access defibrillation (PAD) are unknown. Methods and Results: A prospective, population-based observational study involving consecutive OHCA patients with emergency responder resuscitation attempts was conducted from July 1, 2004 through December 31, 2008 in Osaka City. We extracted data for OHCA patients shocked by a public-access automated external defibrillator (AED) and evaluated the patients' and rescuers' characteristics. The main outcome measure was neurologically favorable 1-month survival. During the study period, 10,375 OHCA patients were registered and of 908 patients suffering ventricular fibrillation arrest, 53 (6%) received public-access AED shocks by lay-rescuers, with the proportion increasing from 0% in 2004 to 11% in 2008 (P for trend