Our weekly update on news in the world of heart safety and noninvasive cardiology

Colleges are now expected to have AEDs
At the University of Michigan Flint campus, an automated external defibrillators (AED) is essential equipment. Flint has nine. University of Michigan Ann Arbor has 150 AEDs.

“If you don’t have one in an institution such as this, people are going to ask ‘why not?’” Gary Parr, associate director at Flint’s Rec Center, told the Michigan Times. “And they might drag us to court and say ‘You should have had that.’”

The Times reports, “They cost the University nearly $1,500 apiece and have been used only ‘five or six times’ in more than a decade, but Public Safety Sergeant Allen Cozart thinks ‘they’re worth every penny.’”

Parr recalls the day that a man collapsed in the Rec Center. As soon as they deployed the center’s AED, it recommended a shock, and that shock restarted the man’s heart. After recovery from quintuple bypass surgery, the man is now back at the Rec Center, once again able to run and play racquetball.

Without an AED near at hand “we probably would have been having a funeral instead of a hug and a thank you,” Parr said in The Times interview.

French study identifies easy-to-measure risk factor for sudden cardiac arrest
Heart rate data from patients given a simple stress test has revealed an unexpected predictor of sudden cardiac arrest — one that can be determined simply by measuring pulse rate. The research was published in the current issue of European Heart Journal.

The study looked at more than 7,000 middle-aged French police officers. Researchers measured the men’s heart rates four times: at rest, as they prepared to take a stress test, during the stress test, and during the recovery period after the exercise. The study found that men whose heart rates increased the most as they prepared to take the physical stress test (a period researches termed “mild mental stress”) had twice the risk of dying of a heart attack later in life than men who had the lowest increases in heart rate.

Conversely, men whose heart rates increased the most during the actual physical exertion had less than half the risk of sudden death than men whose heart rates increased the least during the stress test.

“People who showed a higher heart rate increase with mild mental stress could be considered for additional investigations and for tailored preventive strategies, aimed in the first place at reducing the probability of heart disease,” said Professor Xavier Jouven, who led the research.

An audio interview with Jouven is available on Med Page Today.

Donations, lawsuit follow sudden cardiac arrest death in Florida park
Frank Speciale was just 42 when he collapsed and died of sudden cardiac arrest during an evening soccer game at a middle school in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Shaken by his death, his friends created the Frankie Foundation with the goal of placing an AED defibrillator at each South Florida parks and athletics fields. They began last week with a donation of three defibrillators in Pompano Beach, adding to the city’s existing 28 defibrillators in public places and rescue vehicles.

“I was not an advocate for AEDs before this,” Todd Nobles, who worked with Speciale in the Fort Lauderdale Public Works Department, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “Would it have saved his life? We’ll never know. But it could have bought him some time.”

Speciale’s father filed a wrongful death suit against the city and the park’s architect. Though the state does not require AEDs in parks, an attorney involved in the case said the suit is intended to raise awareness of the need for a state-mandated AED in public places.

Access to cardiology care is affected by patients’ gender and socio-economic status
A new study published in Circulation has found that women with coronary artery disease or congestive heart failure are less likely to get a referral from primary care physicians to see a cardiologist than men with the same conditions. Patients seen at community health clinics were less likely to get a cardiology referral than those seen in hospital-based clinics.

The lead author of the study, Dr. Nakela Cook of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, said in an interview with heartwire that patients without referrals were suffering adverse health effects.

Saves at Schools: AED availability and AED training make a difference
The Enterprise Newspapers in Washington state are urging people to get CPR and AED training, citing the story of a recent local rescue.

As a firefighter/paramedic in Shoreline, Washington, Nathan Downey is used to dealing with sudden cardiac arrest. But Downey was off duty, and nowhere near an ambulance, when he came to the aid of a 15-year-old student who had collapsed and had no vital signs.

He called 911, started CPR, and then someone from the school appeared with exactly what he needed: an automated external defibrillator (AED). Downey used it to administer a shock that started the student’s heart beating.

In Chatham County, Georgia, the Coastal Source reports that Benedictine Military School believes it has become the first school in the U.S. to have the entire student body trained in CPR and AED use.

The group Saving Lives in Chatham County,  headed by a local cardiologist, coordinated an all-day training for students April 29. The head of the school’s health office contacted the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association and the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation and believes he has confirmed the school’s status as the first to have all students trained as rescuers.

In Connecticut, two mothers whose children have heart conditions have joined with the American Heart Association to back two AED bills before the state Senate. One bill would require all Connecticut schools to have an AED that is accessible during the school day and for after-school events and sporting events. The other bill would extend Good Samaritan protection, now mandated for individuals who use an AED,  to schools, businesses and other organizations that make AEDs available.

In Colorado, Centura Health’s “Jump Start a Heart” Community Outreach program has donated a Cardiac Science Powerheart G3 AED to the Fountain-Fort Carson School District.

Malta launches Heart Foundation for education, AED placement
The island nation of Malta has launched the Malta Heart Foundation, a non-governmental organization to educate the public about heart disease and place automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public locations. Founding members of the foundation include President Emeritus Guido de Marco.

Campaigns aim to place defibrillators in Coventry and Birmingham, UK

The Derek Higgs Start a Heart Appeal has launched an effort to place 50 automated external defibrillators (AEDs) across Coventry. The campaign asks local businesses to purchase and install AEDs to protect their employees, customers, and the general public.

The appeal is in memory of a local business leader, Sir Derek Higgs, who died last year of a heart attack. The campaign is offering businesses the opportunity to purchase Cardiac Science Powerheart G3 AEDs at a discount.

In Sutton, England, a local woman who lost her husband to a heart attack has raised money to help the town’s shopping center purchase a Cardiac Science Powerheart G3 AED. Lynda Gillespie’s donation of £700 was just part of her fundraising work on behalf of the British Heart Foundation. The Foundation recently launched the Birmingham Start a Heart Appeal to place 50 defibrillators throughout the city of Birmingham.

Kudos for rescuers who used AED to save teen ballplayer in Boca Raton

Fifteen-year-old Claire Dunlap has recovered from sudden cardiac arrest, thanks to an athletic trainer, two off-duty firefighters, and a nearby automated external defibrillator. The trio used the AED to restart Dunlap’s heart after she collapsed on the field during a post-game huddle

Florida state law requires high schools with athletic programs to have defibrillators.

The rescuers were honor April 17 by the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association‘s new South Florida chapter.

Last 5 posts by Joe Hage

• An update on state AED legislation, Part 1 - September 7th, 2010
• Olivia’s story: A young life lost to sudden cardiac arrest - September 1st, 2010
• In memory of Eric: Cardiac screening for teen athletes - August 31st, 2010
• West Virginia University installs AEDs: Cardiac Science for the week of August 30 - August 30th, 2010
• “Zip Across the Clyde” funds AEDs in Glasgow - August 26th, 2010