Acute cardiac care & resuscitation

Number of community first responders needed for quick response times to cardiac arrest: a nationwide study

ResuscitationPublished nationwide study

Main finding · Percentage of activations with a response time under 5 min for the first-arriving CFRResult — go to the resultAbsolute increase 13% 95% CI [5%, 21%]

Authors' conclusion

The likelihood of CFR response times under 5 min increased significantly with the number of available CFRs. At around 800 available CFRs per 100,000 residents, a response time under 5 min for the first-arriving CFR was achieved in almost half of system activations, and for the first-arriving CFR bringing an AED in almost one-third of system activations. This shows the importance of recruiting enough CFRs to ensure quick response times.

Study context

Population
Activations of the Danish nationwide community first responder (CFR) system for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, February 2018 to August 2024
Participants
12,806 CFR system activations
Comparison
Activations grouped by the number of available CFRs per 100,000 residents
Outcome
Percentage of activations with a response time under 5 min for the first-arriving CFR

Main finding

As reported in the abstract

Absolute increase

13%

95% CI [5%, 21%]

By group

800-899 per 100,000 residentsvs 300-399 per 100,000 residents
absolute increase 13% (95% CI [5%, 21%])

Further findings

Outcome300-399 per 100,000 residents800-899 per 100,000 residentsAbsolute increase (95% CI)
Percentage of activations with a response time under 5 min for the first-arriving CFR bringing an AEDIncrease as available CFRs increased from 300-399 to 800-8997%29%23% ([15%, 31%])

Original publication

Number of community first responders needed for quick response times to cardiac arrest: a nationwide study. Resuscitation. Published 3 July 2026. doi:10.1016/j.resuscitation.2026.111200

Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →

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