Low compliance with national standards for cardiovascular emergency preparedness at health clubs

There is heightened concern that older adults and individuals with occult o r known heart disease are exercising at fitness facilities that do not prov ide adequate cardiovascular screening and emergency procedures, as outlined in contemporary recommendations. To evaluate adherence to these standards, we surveyed 122 randomly chosen fitness clubs in Ohio (53% response rate; n 65) that included > 110,000 total members, Special programs for older adu lts, cardiac patients, or both, were offered at 52% of these clubs. More th an one fourth of the clubs (28%) failed to employ pre-entry screening to id entify members with signs, symptoms, or history of cardiovascular disease, even though 17% reported one or more cardiovascular emergencies tie, acute myocardial infarction, sudden cardiac death, or both) in their facility dur ing the past 5 years. Moreover, a majority of the clubs (53%) had no writte n emergency response plan and 92% failed to conduct emergency response dril ls as described in published national standards. Only 3% of the centers rep orted having automated external defibrillators. These findings indicate tha t staff at public fitness facilities must work to identify members with sig ns, symptoms, or history of cardiovascular disease and prepare for prompt a nd appropriate responses to cardiovascular emergencies as described in cont emporary national recommendations. Such risk management procedures may redu ce exercise-related cardiovascular events among the escalating number of mo derate-to-high-risk adults who are being mainstreamed into health and fitne ss facilities.