Network of Automated External Defibrillators in Poland before the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: An In-Depth Analysis

Daniel Ślęzak, Marlena Robakowska, Przemysław Żuratyński and Kamil Krzyżanowski
Additional contact information
Daniel Ślęzak: Division of Medical Rescue, Faculty of Health Sciences with the Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, 80-210 Gdańsk, Poland
Marlena Robakowska: Department of Public Health & Social Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, 80-210 Gdańsk, Poland
Przemysław Żuratyński: Division of Medical Rescue, Faculty of Health Sciences with the Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, 80-210 Gdańsk, Poland
Kamil Krzyżanowski: Division of Medical Rescue, Faculty of Health Sciences with the Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, 80-210 Gdańsk, Poland

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-11

Abstract: Introduction: Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), which causes more than half of all cardiovascular related deaths, can be regarded as a common massive global public health problem. Analyzing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) cases, one of the key components is automatic external defibrillators (AEDs). Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze the use and distribution of AEDs in Polish public places. Materials and methods: The data were analyzed by using the Excel and R calculation programs. Results: The data represents 120 uses of automatic external defibrillators used in Polish public space in the period 2008–2018. The analysis describes 1165 locations of AEDs in Poland. It was noted that the number of uses in the period 2010–2016 fluctuated at a constant value, with a significant rise in 2017. When analyzing the time of interventions in detail the following was noted: the highest percentage of interventions was observed in April, and the lowest in November; the highest number of interventions was observed on a Friday, while the least number of interventions was observed on a Sunday; most occurred between 12:00 to 16:00, and least between 20:00 to 8:00. Conclusions: The observed growth in the number of cases of AED use in public places is associated with the approach to training, the emphasis on public access to defibrillation, and, therefore, the growth of social awareness. This study will be continued. The next analysis would include 2020–2022 and would be a comparative analysis with the current research.

Keywords: AED; automatic external defibrillator; AED in Poland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9065/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9065/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9065-:d:871398

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().