The location and incidence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Georgia: implications for placement of automated external defibrillators.

Objective: Prior studies of automated external defrillator placement strategies for public access defibrillation (PAD) have addressed only the venue of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OOHCA) in large urban areas. This study evaluates the relationship between population density and the incidence and location of OOHCA.

Methods: This study was a retrospective analysis of 624,199 Georgia state emergency medical services patient care reports (PCRs) in 2000.