Analyzing and Optimizing AED Placement Locations in Big Cites—A Geographical Information System Analysis

Abstract

Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) has been identified as a significant public health issue in China. Numerous studies have demonstrated that using automated external defibrillators (AEDs) can significantly improve the survival rate of OHCA patients, but their low utilization rate is partly due to the accessibility of AED deployment sites. This study collects the location information of AED devices in three representative cities in China: Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen and then combines the kilometer population grid data (2021) with the AED geographic location data for visualization and data analysis through QGIS and Kepler.GL. Our model considers population distribution, subway, and road traffic factors and proposes a new method for AED index measurement. Through empirical analysis, we discovered that the existing AED distribution has an issue with unequal resource allocation. Thus, we have proposed specific suggestions on quantity and specific zones for AED deployment. Furthermore, this study proposes three specific suggestions for the problems currently in developing AEDs in China.