Home Automated External Defibrillator Trial

Australian Coordinator:

Professor Andrew Tonkin
(member HAT International Steering Committee)
Telephone: 03 9903 0044
Fax: 03 9903 0556

HAT is funded by the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is being conducted in the United States, Canada, Australia, UK and New Zealand. In Australia the study involves 34 hospitals - Professor Andrew Tonkin is the Principal Investigator, Julie Yallop the National Study Coordinator, and Bianca Chan a research assistant. The Chief Investigator in the US is Gust Bardy from Seattle, Washington. Many others are also associated with the trial.

The study is intended to enrol 7,000 patients over 2.5 years and follow the patients for an additional 2 years. Patients will be randomised equally between the home AED arm and the control arm. In the AED arm, the spouse or home companion will be instructed to deliver up to 2 shocks, if directed by the AED, before calling 000. In the control arm, 000 will be called as is usual. Both arms are supported with videos and pamphlets for the patients and their family who will be trained in CPR and emergency response. The trial has an intention-to-treat design. The primary end-point is all cause mortality. Secondary endpoints include economics and quality of life issues, survival free of neurological injury and predictive factors from the baseline ECG. randomisation process will be automated and quite simple. Data forms will be kept to an absolute minimum burden, seeking only the most critical data.

Research Staff

• Julie Yallop
• Joanne Croucher