Not enough health clubs have defibrillators

WASHINGTON -- With research showing a slightly higher risk that a heart may give out during exercise, doctors are urging health clubs to buy portable defibrillators.

The added risk that comes during a workout is more than offset by the benefits of regular exercise throughout life, but industry officials think they need to do better in the event someone suffers cardiac arrest from the stress of exercising.

No more than 5 percent of health clubs have portable defibrillators, but 60 percent should have them in five years, said John McCarthy, executive director of the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, a health club trade group.

"We don't want anybody who is intent on exercising to have a potentially life-threatening event," he said.

The industry serves a population that could need defibrillation.