Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Archive
    • Podcast: NC Health Policy Forum
    • Upcoming Scientific Articles
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
    • Advertisers
    • Subscribers
  • About Us
    • About the North Carolina Medical Journal
    • Editorial Board
  • More
    • Alerts
    • Feedback
    • Help
    • RSS
  • Other Publications
    • North Carolina Medical Journal

User menu

  • My alerts
  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
North Carolina Medical Journal
  • Other Publications
    • North Carolina Medical Journal
  • My alerts
  • Log in
North Carolina Medical Journal

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Archive
    • Podcast: NC Health Policy Forum
    • Upcoming Scientific Articles
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
    • Advertisers
    • Subscribers
  • About Us
    • About the North Carolina Medical Journal
    • Editorial Board
  • More
    • Alerts
    • Feedback
    • Help
    • RSS
  • Follow ncmj on Twitter
  • Visit ncmj on Facebook
LetterPolicy Forum

Using Drone Technology to Minimize Socioeconomic and Ethnic Cardiac Arrest Survival Disparities Within North Carolina

Rebecca Schilling, Paul Kleinschmidt and Judith Borger
North Carolina Medical Journal November 2019, 80 (6) 381-382; DOI: https://doi.org/10.18043/ncm.80.6.381
Rebecca Schilling
emergency medicine resident, Cape Fear Valley Hospital Fayetteville, North Carolina
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Paul Kleinschmidt
emergency medicine residency program director, Cape Fear Valley Hospital, Fayetteville, North Carolina
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Judith Borger
emergency medicine residency core faculty, Cape Fear Valley Hospital, Fayetteville, North Carolina
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: judeviolado@gmail.com
  • Article
  • References
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

To the Editor—It was with great interest that we read the July article “The Case for Drone-Assisted Emergency Response to Cardiac Arrest: An Optimized Statewide Deployment Approach” [1]. We commend the authors on an innovative solution to improving cardiac arrest survivability within North Carolina via efficient AED delivery.

As mentioned in the original article, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survival has remained the same for the past 30 years [2, 3]. The stagnation in survival persists despite changes in management of cardiac arrests, the introduction of different medications, early defibrillation, and changes in emergency service practice. Survival remains around 7% [3]. Doubling survival to 15.5% within the year may require targeted interventions. However, cardiac arrest survival rates are not the same across all ethnic and socioeconomic groups.

When examining both the incidence of cardiac arrest as well as survival within North Carolina, most striking are the differences in survival among different races and socioeconomic groups. North Carolina has a population of approximately 10 million; 22.1% are Black, 9.1% are Hispanic, 2.8% are Asian, and 1.6% are American Indian [4]. Unfortunately, it is well documented that not only is the incidence of cardiac arrest higher but survival of cardiac arrest is lower among racial minorities and patients from lower socioeconomic backgrounds [5, 6, 7]. Incidence of cardiac arrest in African Americans is over 10/10,000, in Hispanics it is 6.5/10,000, and in Whites it is 5.8/10,000 [8]. African Americans are nearly twice as likely to suffer a cardiac arrest compared to their white counterparts. Given all minorities' increased incidence yet lower survival rates from cardiac arrest, we envision technology such as drone-assisted AED delivery proposed by the authors being strategically used to eliminate some of these unfortunate and unfair survival differences in our state.

Examination of the survival disparities for ethnic minorities within North Carolina shows that lower rates of bystander CPR as well as lower rates of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) have been reported among neighborhoods with a predominantly Black population [9], which may be partially due to the fact that racial minorities were found to be less informed on the use of AEDs in cardiac arrest [10]. Rather than placing drones evenly throughout the state or concentrating them within urban areas as the original article suggested, we propose that targeted drone placement in counties or neighborhoods with predominantly minority populations could make an even larger difference in North Carolina's cardiac arrest survival. Race and ethnicity are currently unfair and unfortunate predictors of cardiac arrest survival within North Carolina, so any intervention targeted at improving survival should seek to minimize those disparities in order to ensure optimal health and survival of all of North Carolina's population.

Acknowledgments

The authors have no relevant conflicts of interest.

  • ©2019 by the North Carolina Institute of Medicine and The Duke Endowment. All rights reserved.

References

  1. ↵
    1. Bogle B,
    2. Rosamond W,
    3. Snyder K,
    4. Zègre-Hemsey J
    The case for drone-assisted emergency response to cardiac arrest: an optimized statewide deployment approach. NCMJ. 2019;80(4):204-212.
    OpenUrl
  2. ↵
    1. Sasson C,
    2. Rogers M,
    3. Dahl J,
    4. Kellermann AL
    Predictors of survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes. 2010;3(1):63-81.
    OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text
  3. ↵
    1. Chan P,
    2. McNally B,
    3. Tang F,
    4. Kellermann A, CARES Surveillance Group
    Recent trends in survival of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the United States.Circulation. 2014;130(21):1876–1882.
    OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text
  4. ↵
    1. United States Census Bureau
    Quick Facts North Carolina. U.S. Department of Commerce website. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/NC/PST045218. Accessed June 13th, 2019.
  5. ↵
    1. Chan PS,
    2. Nichol G,
    3. Krumholz HM, et al.
    Racial differences in survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest. JAMA. 2009;302(11):1195-1201.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
  6. ↵
    1. Fender EA,
    2. Henrikson CA,
    3. Tereshchenko L
    Racial differences in sudden cardiac death. J Electrocardiol. 2014;47(6):815-818.
    OpenUrl
  7. ↵
    1. Bosson N,
    2. Fang A,
    3. Kaji AH, et al.
    Racial and ethnic differences in outcomes after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: Hispanics and Blacks may fare worse than non-Hispanic Whites. Resuscitation. 2019;137:29-34.
    OpenUrl
  8. ↵
    1. Galea S,
    2. Blaney S,
    3. Nandi A, et al.
    Explaining racial disparities in incidence of survival of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Am J Epidemiol. 2007;166(5):534-543.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
  9. ↵
    1. Starks M,
    2. Schmicker R,
    3. Peterson E, et al.
    Association of neighborhood demographics with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest treatment and outcomes: where you live may matter. JAMA Cardiol. 2017;2(10):1110-1118.
    OpenUrl
  10. ↵
    1. Owen DD,
    2. McGovern SK,
    3. Murray A, et al.
    Association of race and socioeconomic status with automatic external defibrillator training prevalence in the United States. Resuscitation. 2018;127:100-104.
    OpenUrl
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

North Carolina Medical Journal: 80 (6)
North Carolina Medical Journal
Vol. 80, Issue 6
November-December 2019
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author
Print
Download PDF
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on North Carolina Medical Journal.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Using Drone Technology to Minimize Socioeconomic and Ethnic Cardiac Arrest Survival Disparities Within North Carolina
(Your Name) has sent you a message from North Carolina Medical Journal
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the North Carolina Medical Journal web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
1 + 19 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
Citation Tools
Using Drone Technology to Minimize Socioeconomic and Ethnic Cardiac Arrest Survival Disparities Within North Carolina
Rebecca Schilling, Paul Kleinschmidt, Judith Borger
North Carolina Medical Journal Nov 2019, 80 (6) 381-382; DOI: 10.18043/ncm.80.6.381

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Using Drone Technology to Minimize Socioeconomic and Ethnic Cardiac Arrest Survival Disparities Within North Carolina
Rebecca Schilling, Paul Kleinschmidt, Judith Borger
North Carolina Medical Journal Nov 2019, 80 (6) 381-382; DOI: 10.18043/ncm.80.6.381
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Acknowledgments
    • References
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

Policy Forum

  • Breaking the Cycle
  • Breaking the Cycle
  • From Here to There—With a Spring in Our Steps
Show more Policy Forum

CORRESPONDENCE

  • Perinatal Substance Use Care Coordination: The Need for One Care Plan
  • Letters of Correspondence: Telehealth, Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19, Lung Cancer Screening RatesTelehealth Has Been Great for Patients. Keep the Phone Visits.COVID-19’s Lasting Impact on North CaroliniansImproving Low Dose Lung Cancer Screening Computerized Tomography Scan (LDCT) Enrollment Rates
  • Raising Awareness of Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia in Native Americans in North Carolina
Show more CORRESPONDENCE

Similar Articles

About & Contact

  • About the NCMJ
  • Editorial Board
  • Feedback

Info for

  • Advertisers
  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • Subscribers

Articles & Alerts

  • Archive
  • Current Issue
  • Get Alerts
  • Upcoming Articles

Additional Content

  • Current NCIOM Task Forces
  • NC Health Data & Resources
  • NCIOM Blog
North Carolina Medical Journal

ISSN: 0029-2559

© 2022 North Carolina Medical Journal

Powered by HighWire