Home Defibrillator Study

A study released yesterday contained bad news for makers and buyers of portable defibrillators, devices that deliver electrical shocks meant to revive victims of sudden heart In the first major study of their use in household settings, researchers found no evidence that the devices produced significant life-saving benefits. The study, of more than 7,000 heart patients, concluded that patients in homes equipped with the gear died at the same rate as those without it.
Defibrillators were originally designed for ambulance crews. However, they have recently been marketed to consumers for use in homes.
Importantly, the study noted that the life-saving potential of the automated external defibrillators was well established in hospitals, emergency vehicles and in public settings like airports and casinos. At public locations there are typically employees close at hand who are trained to use the defibrillators.
The home study, which was sponsored by the government but partly financed by industry, followed the patients an average of three years. The death rates from all causes and from heart problems in the group that was given defibrillator kits — and training in how to use them — were lower than expected but virtually identical to the group that did not receive the equipment. It turned out that just 14 patients treated in the three-year study suffered the specific heart rhythm malfunction that the defibrillator could combat. Of that group, four survived to be released from the hospital.
But the study served mainly to spotlight the health care system’s limited options in dealing with sudden cardiac arrest — a heart malfunction that each year strikes 166,000 Americans outside the hospital.
Unlike a heart attack, which involves a restriction of blood flow to the heart’s muscle and is often not fatal, sudden cardiac arrest results from chaotic, rapid heartbeats and is invariably deadly unless normal heart rhythms are quickly restored. About 75 percent of cases occur in the home. Although many victims have had previous heart problems, others are stricken with no warning. .