The study, involving 7,001 people, was led by Dr. Gust Bardy of the Seattle Institute of Cardiac Research.
All subjects involved in the study were believed to be at moderate risk of sudden cardiac arrest. They also all lived with someone who knew how to perform CPR and use the home defibrillator devices.
The people were grouped into two groups: those who used the home defibrillator first before calling for emergency assistance; the other group called for emergency help and then performed CPR.
The results revealed that having someone who knows how to use CPR was just as effective or better than using a home defibrillator.
"This of course dramatically limits the chance that someone would be there to use an AED [automated external defibrillators] or to perform CPR," said Bardy, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Bardy presented the findings at the American College of Cardiology conference in Chicago. The study also was published in the online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Researchers said that when the home defibrillator was used, they performed very well although they did not get used very often.
Arthur Kellerman of the Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta said that "the best way to survive a cardiac arrest is not have it in the first place. This is accomplished through diet, exercise, non-smoking and access to good medical care for conditions like high blood pressure prior to a heart attack."
Incidents of cardiac arrest in the study occurred mostly when a person was at home and alone.
