Submitted by SCAFoundation on Fri, 06/28/2013 - 12:00am

NEW YORK--Nearly 90% of high school athletes who suffer sudden cardiac arrest during sports activities survive when emergency measures are in place, a new study suggests.

With 61-89% survival rates, both students and adults have higher than average survival when the arrest is witnessed in a school with a set emergency plan and the victim receives CPR and defibrillation before emergency services arrive, the study found.

Dr. Jonathan Drezner of the University of Washington in Seattle presented some of the data June 26 at the annual meeting of the National Athletic Trainers' Association in Las Vegas. The full results will be published later this summer in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

"The numbers are awesome and encouraging and the best we've seen so far. This is a landmark study showing the importance of having an AED (automated external defibrillator) in the school setting itself," said Dr. Douglas Casa, chief operating officer of the Korey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut, who was not involved in the research.

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SOURCE: Reuters Health