Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is very prevalent in the US, with over 365,000 people suffering from an out-of-hospital SCA every year. About 60-80% of these people die before even reaching the hospital. These cardiac arrests can occur anywhere, including schools. One in every 23.8 to 284.1 schools have an SCA incident every year. The incidence rate among students is 0.17 to 4.4 per 100,000 every year. The death rate from SCA can reduce greatly if CPR and AEDs are used. One study found that the survival rate of SCA in student athletes was 64% in high schools with AED programs. 

The Pennsylvania Senate’s Education Committee recently passed a bill that would require an AED in all schools and school buildings. They would also need comprehensive CPR and AED training. This bill will be presented to the PA Senate this upcoming fall. Before the vote occurs, it will be helpful to know how many schools currently have AEDs and how many more are needed. Because Pennsylvania has such a diverse population, focus was shifted towards how the number of AEDs correlates with the demographics of a given school. 

To do this, several different data sources were used to create a database. This database included all of the AEDs in Pennsylvania schools, the enrollment and demographics data of the schools, as well as the free/reduced lunch eligibility of schools. The search was narrowed down to only schools within a school district. This would mean that the schools are considered regular, public schools. Charter schools, vocational schools, and private schools were excluded from our database. In total, there were 2654 schools and 5039 AEDs. Statistical analysis was performed using Stata. 

Of the 2654 schools, 1740 schools had at least one functional AED. Of these 1740 schools, the mean percent of free/reduced lunch eligibility was 53.8%. Schools with higher free/reduced lunch eligibility showed a trend with more AEDs than schools with lower eligibility. Schools with a higher percent of black students had more AEDs per school. Schools with a higher percent of white students had fewer AEDs per school. The Southeast region of Pennsylvania has the highest number of schools with no functioning AEDs and the highest percentage of black students. The Northwest region has the highest percentage of schools with at least one functioning AED and the highest mean percentage of free/reduced lunch eligibility. 

In general, socioeconomic status (measured by free/reduced lunch eligibility) and minority status did not decrease the number of AEDs per school. This may be due to funding of schools by both property taxes and state budget. Based on the age of AEDs, 919 schools will need to purchase one AED. AEDs are also unequally distributed across the regions of Pennsylvania. Further studies can be conducted to analyze AED access in rural areas of Pennsylvania, like the North Central region.