Investigation of availability and accessibility of community automated external defibrillators in a territory in Hong Kong

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the availability and accessibility of community automated external defibrillators in a territory in Hong Kong. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Two public hospitals in New Territories West Cluster in Hong Kong. Participants: Information about the locations of community automated external defibrillators was obtained from automated external defibrillator suppliers and through community search. Data on locations of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests from August 2010 to September 2013 were obtained from the local cardiac arrest registry of the emergency departments of two hospitals. Sites of both automated external defibrillators and out-of-hospital cardiac arrests were geographically coded and mapped. The number of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests within 100 m of automated external defibrillators per year and the proportion of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests with accessible automated external defibrillators (100 m) were calculated. The number of community automated external defibrillators per 10 000 population and public access defibrillation rate were also calculated and compared with those in other countries. Results: There were a total of 207 community automated external defibrillators in the territory. The number of automated external defibrillators per 10 000 population was 1. 942. All facilities with automated external defibrillators in this territory had more than 0.2 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests per automated external defibrillator per year within 100 m. Among all out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, 25.2% could have an automated external defibrillator reachable within 100 m. The public access defibrillation rate was 0.168%. Conclusions: The number and accessibility of community automated external defibrillators in this territory are comparable to those in other developed countries. The placement site of community automated external defibrillators is cost-effective. However, the public access defibrillation rate is low.