Connecticut Athletic Trainers' Association

The Connecticut Athletic Trainers' Association (CATA) strives to improve the quality of health care for athletes, patients and clients and enhance the profession of Athletic Training, through leadership, education, and cooperative efforts with other organizations and allied health professions.

Facts about Sudden Cardiac Arrest & Defibrillation

Facts about Sudden Cardiac Arrest:

• Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a leading cause of death in the U.S.
• 325,000 people die each year as a result of SCA.
• SCA can affect healthy individuals of all ages.
• SCA is the leading cause of death among athletes.
• Sudden cardiac arrest is not the same as a heart attack.
• A heart attack is caused by a blockage in an artery supplying blood to the heart.
• SCA occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating, due to a malfunction in the heart’s
electrical system that causes the heart to go into ventricular fibrillation (VF).
• The most effective treatment for VF is defibrillation.

   Facts about Defibrillation:

• According to the American Heart Association, only 5% of SCA victims survive.
• Defibrillation within 3 to 5 minutes of collapse is optimal.
• For every minute of delay in defibrillation, survival rates decrease by 7-10 %.
• After 10-12 minutes, most victims are beyond help.
• Access to early defibrillation is critical in saving lives.

   Facts about Early Defibrillation & AEDs:

•   An Automated External Defibrillator (AED) is a computerized medical device that can
     be used to treat a victim of sudden cardiac arrest.
•   An AED evaluates the victim’s heart rhythm, determines if shock is needed and
     delivers an electric shock through the chest wall to the heart.
•   Audio and/or visual prompts guide the user through the process.
•   AEDs are safe to use!
•   The device will NOT deliver a shock unless a “shockable” heart rhythm is detected
     (i.e., “medically necessary.”)
•    The user of an AED cannot "accidentally" shock him or herself, or someone else.