Assessing the weak links - Necessity and impact of regional cardiac arrest awareness campaigns for laypersons.

Introduction: Public knowledge of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), and initiation of basic life support (BLS) is crucial to increase survival in OHCA.

Methods: The study analysed the knowledge and willingness to perform BLS of laypersons passing an AED at a public train station. Interviewees were recruited at two time points before and after a four year-long structured regional awareness campaign, which focused on , , in a mid-size European city (270,000 inhabitants).

Validation of the all-comers design: Results of the TARGET-AC substudy.

Background: Results of clinical trials are often criticized by low inclusion rate and potential sampling bias in patient recruitment. The aim of this validation registry is to evaluate how far an all-comers design in the context of clinical research can ensure the representation of the true all-comers population.

Methods: This validation registry is a prospective international multicentre registry, conducted at 10 out of the total 21 centers, participating in TARGET-AC (registered under NCT02520180).