Heart-saving public defibrillators much scarcer in poor Dutch neighborhoods
Residents of lower-income neighborhoods in the Netherlands are less likely to survive a cardiac arrest because they have limited access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs), according to research reported by the Nederlands Dagblad. The study found that these life-saving devices are much more common in wealthier areas.
The Nederlands Dagblad's investigation compared thousands of AED locations across the country with neighborhood socio-economic scores. Nearly half of the poorest neighborhoods have no AED at all, while four out of five affluent neighborhoods have at least one. Wealthier areas have between 1.5 and 2.5 times more AEDs per resident.
In the Zandvoort neighborhood of Oud Noord, home to 2,100 people, no AEDs are available. Just a few streets away, Boulevard Noord and the Stationsomgeving, with a similar population, have three AEDs. These areas also rank higher on socio-economic scales, reportedly reflecting a broader national pattern.
Aart Bosmans of HartslagNU said approximately 31,000 AEDs are registered in the Netherlands, but the actual number may exceed 100,000. “Many of these are not registered and therefore not immediately deployable in an emergency,” he noted.
Medical expert David Baden warned, “The decline in survival chances begins almost immediately, and brain damage occurs between three and six minutes.” He stressed that the risk is greatest in poorer neighborhoods, where cardiac arrest incidence is higher.
