Characterization of available automated external defibrillators in the market based on the product manuals in 2014.

Background: To popularize the wide-spread use of automated external defibrillator (AED) to save life in sudden cardiac arrest, we compared the strength and weakness of different types of AEDs to enable a sound selection based on regional requirement.

Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive study. Different types of AEDs were compared according to the information of AEDs from manuals and brochures provided by the manufacturers.