Survival and health care costs until hospital discharge of patients treated with onsite, dispatched or without automated external defibrillator

BackgroundThis study aimed to determine whether automated external defibrillator (AED) use during resuscitation is associated with lower in-hospital health care costs.MethodsFor this observational prospective study, we included all treated out-of-hospital cardiac arrests of suspected cardiac cause. Clinical, survival and cost data were collected from July 2005 until March 2008. Cost data were based on hospital transport, duration of admission in hospital wards, diagnostics and interventions. We divided the study population in three groups based on AED use: (1) onsite AED, (2) dispatched AED, (3) no AED. The endpoint was survival to discharge. P < 0.05 is indicated by *.ResultsOf the 2126 included patients, 136 were treated with an onsite AED, 365 with a dispatched AED and 1625 without AED. Overall (95% confidence interval [CI]) survival rate was 43% (35–51%), 16% (13–20%) and 14% (12–16%), respectively*. Per 100 survivors, the mean duration admitted at intensive care unit [ICU] were 267 (166–374), 495 (344–658), and 537 (450–609) days, respectively*; total duration of hospital admission was 2188 (1800–2594), 3132 (2573–3797), and 2765 (2519–3050) days, respectively*. Mean costs per survivor for hospital stay were €9233 (€7351–€11,280), €14,194 (€11,656–€17,254), and €13,693 (€12,226–€15,166), respectively*; total health care costs were €29,575 (€24,695–€34,183), €34,533 (€29,832–€39,487) and €31,772 (€29,217–€34,385), respectively. For both survivors and non-survivors, total costs per patient were €14,727 (€11,957–€18,324), €7703 (€6141–€9366) and €6580 (€5875–€7238), respectively*.ConclusionsOnsite AED use was associated with higher survival rates. Surviving patients of the onsite AED group had lower total costs, mainly due to the shorter ICU stay.