• Lars W Andersen, Mathias J Holmberg, Asger Granfeldt, Lyndon P James, and Lisa Caulley.
• Research Center for Emergency Medicine, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark; Center for Resuscitation Science, Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: lwandersen@clin.au.dk.
• Resuscitation. 2019 May 1; 138: 250-258.

BackgroundDespite a consistent association with improved outcomes, public automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are rarely used in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. One of the barriers towards increased use might be cost-effectiveness.MethodsWe compared the cost-effectiveness of public AEDs to no AEDs for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the United States over a life-time horizon. The analysis assumed a societal perspective and results are presented as costs per quality-adjusted life year (QALY). Model inputs were based on reviews of the literature. For the base case, we modelled an annual cardiac arrest incidence per AED of 20%. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis was conducted to account for joint parameter uncertainty.ResultsThe no AED strategy resulted in 1.63 QALYs at a cost of $28,964. The AED strategy yielded an additional 0.26 QALYs for an incremental increase in cost of $13,793 per individual. The AED strategy yielded an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $53,797 per QALY gained. The yearly incidence of cardiac arrests occurring in the presence of an AED had minimal effect on the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio except at very low incidences. In several sensitivity analyses across a plausible range of health care and societal estimates, the AED strategy remained cost-effective. In the probabilistic sensitivity analysis, the AED strategy was cost-effective in 43%, 85%, and 91% of the scenarios at a willingness-to-pay threshold of $50,000, $100,000, and $150,000 per QALY gained, respectively.ConclusionPublic AEDs are a cost-effective public health intervention in the United States. These findings support widespread dissemination of public AEDs.Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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