Eligibility and Disqualification Recommendations for Competitive Athletes With Cardiovascular Abnormalities: Task Force 12: Emergency Action Plans, Resuscitation, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, and Automated External Defibrillators

T he ability to resuscitate cardiac arrest victims is a critical component of health-related topics in the athlete population.Even with screening, there will remain people who experience sudden cardiac arrest.An effective resuscitation strategy requires multiple elements, including planning for an event, appropriate team members who can provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), rapid availability of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and other appropriate equipment, and calls for emergency medical services (EMS).The chain of survival as articulated by the American Heart Association (AHA) calls for immediate recognition of cardiac arrest and activation of EMS, early CPR, rapid defibrillation, effective advanced life support, and integrated post-cardiac arrest care.1,2 Inadequacy in any one of these facets will reduce the chances of survival. Basics of AEDsAEDs are portable devices capable of detecting and terminating ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation.All require human input to place the pads and turn on the device.Some are fully automated in that they will analyze the rhythm and provide a shock if the arrhythmia is deemed shockable.However, most are semiautomated in that they require continued human input, including activation to analyze the rhythm, and then if the arrhythmia is deemed shockable, further activation to shock.Ease of use has been demonstrated for both automated and semiautomated AEDs.AEDs are manufactured by many companies, with subtle differences in sensing algorithms and shock energy.The sensitivity and specificity of AEDs are excellent and likely better than human analysis of arrhythmias.3 In arrhythmia libraries, the sensitivity of most devices approaches (Circulation.2015;132:e334-e338.