More defibs urgently needed as sudden cardiac arrests up 20 per cent in Victoria

Deadly sudden cardiac arrests rates have skyrocketed in Victoria, prompting the state’s leading first aid body to call for urgent action in 10 postcodes in particular.

Twenty per cent more sudden cardiac arrests are occurring in Victoria than five years ago – and startlingly, more than 95 per cent of patients are dying.

Of the 7830 people whose hearts stopped beating due to this condition in 2022/23, just 388 survived, the latest Ambulance Victoria figures reveal.

And only 139 were treated by an automated external defibrillator (AED) – an action that has been shown to significantly boost survival rates if applied within the first two to five minutes.

The number of sudden cardiac arrests in Victoria has increased every year since 2018/19, when 6519 were recorded.

The survival rate had also fallen by almost 1 per cent in that time, meaning “as more incidents occur annually, fewer people are returning home”, St John Ambulance Victoria chief executive Gordon Botwright said.

“This is absolutely deadly, it’s indiscriminate and it usually occurs without any warning or notice,” he said.

“But the more people that are able to perform CPR, and greater access to public defibrillators can significantly turn around the survival rate.

“If we could just shift the dial from 5 per cent survival to 15 per cent, we could save nearly 800 additional lives here in Victoria. That’s an astounding number.”

SJAV is urging the Victorian government to commit $1.6m towards its Defib In Your Street initiative – which is working to install always-accessible defibrillators within 400m of every resident and provide free CPR training in postcodes with the highest occurrence of cardiac arrest.

Mr Botwright said this funding would allow the charity to expand the lifesaving program to the 10 worst-affected suburbs, which alarmingly accounted for 10 per cent of all cardiac arrest cases in Victoria.

Defib In Your Street has already installed 29 AEDs and CPR trained 1063 residents in Reservoir, and is halfway to its goal of rolling out 30 defibs in St Albans.

SJAV will next work to install a further 30 defibs and train 5000 residents in postcode 3020, comprising Sunshine and Albion.

The approach has been backed by Latrobe University researchers, who found Defib In Your Street had reduced the average walking time to the nearest defib from 5.87 minutes to 3.55 minutes in Reservoir.

Mr Botwright said this was significant given the chance of surviving a sudden loss of heart function declined by 10 per cent every minute without defibrillation.

An implanted defibrillator and his family’s knowledge of CPR saved Andrew Conway’s life after he suffered a “massive” sudden cardiac arrest. Pictured with wife Leanne and children Renee, Dani and Nick. Picture: Nicki Connolly

He also called on the Victorian government to mandate the installation of AEDs in all public buildings – including schools, sporting facilities, jails and theatres – as had occurred in South Australia.

“It’s terrible to talk about the cost of a life, but we are talking billions of dollars of impact on the Victorian economy,” he said.

“If just some of that money was passed into programs to help raise community resilience by more CPR and first aid training and more defibrillators, that would be a fantastic outcome for Victorians.”

A Victorian government spokesperson sad: “Victoria has the best cardiac arrest survival rate in Australia, and among the best in the world, thanks in part to the more than 13,200 AEDs registered throughout the state”. Of these, 6700 are in public places.

They did not respond to questions posed by the Herald Sun on whether the government would consider funding Defib in Your Street or mandating defibs in public buildings.

Wantirna father of three Andrew Conway suffered six cardiac arrests between his diagnosis with cardiomyopathy in 1996 and heart transplant in 2021, and bluntly says without defibrillation, “I’d be dead”.

His CPR-trained wife, Leanne, and daughter, Renee, were also crucial to his survival when he had “the big one” while at home in bed in 2020.

Apart from requiring six-monthly check-ups, the 58-year-old is now “good as gold”.

stjohnvic.com.au

Sudden cardiac arrest facts

-Occurs when your heart stops beating suddenly, starving your brain and vital organs of oxygen

-7830 recorded in Victoria in 2022/23, up 6.4% annually and 20% since 2018/19

-388 patients survived (4.95%), 139 were treated by defibrillator (1.77%)

-10% of Vic sudden cardiac arrests are occurring in 10 postcodes (listed below)

-About 800 more lives could be saved in Vic each year if survival rate increases from 5% to 15%

-CPR and defibrillation within two to five minutes of sudden cardiac arrest can raise survival rate above 50 per cent

-Every minute a defib is not applied, chances of survival decrease by 10%

-Most common among men aged above 50, but occurs in younger people, fit people, women too

Top Vic postcodes for sudden cardiac arrests

Postcode / key suburbs / number of sudden cardiac arrests in the five years to 2023

3030 (Werribee/Point Cook): 308

3977 (Cranbourne): 299

3021 (St Albans): 296

3199 (Frankston): 288

3175 (Dandenong): 252

3350 (Ballarat): 250

3029 (Hoppers Crossing/Tarneit): 243

3020 (Sunshine): 229

3073 (Reservoir): 221

3174 (Noble Park): 190

Sources: St John Ambulance Victoria, Ambulance Victoria