November 2002
Volume XXVIII, Number 5

	Inside This Issue Defibrillator on Duty Saving Lives in Pittsburgh AEDs: No Experience Required Sudden Cardiac Arrest--Not A Heart Attack New Laws Protect AED Users Motorcycles Equipped With AEDs Overweight Americans Face Serious Health Risks Help For Heart Failure Nuts: Tasty and Heart Healthy Winning Health Recipe of the Month

A new study, sponsored by the city of Chicago, helps confirm that people with no special training can use AEDs to save lives.

"It was extraordinary," said paramedic Sherry Caffrey, who conducted the project with researchers from the University of Chicago. "We never imagined we were going to have the results we had."

In the study, AEDs with written and recorded instructions were placed in well-marked glass cabinets at O'Hare, Midway and Meigs Field airports. Defibrillators were installed a brisk 60-to-90-second walk apart throughout the passenger terminals. Use of the devices was promoted by public-service videos in waiting areas, pamphlets, and media reports.

Over two years, AEDs successfully resuscitated 11 of 18 people. In six of those 11 cases, the rescuers were good Samaritans, primarily travelers, who had no experience with the devices. Data published in the New England Journal of Medicine show that 56 percent of the 18 victims were alive one year later. The estimated survival rate in the U.S. is less than 5 percent.