Weekend admissions were associated with significantly higher in-hospital mortality rates than were weekday admissions among patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms (42 percent vs. 36 percent, P<0.001), acute epiglottitis (1.7 percent vs. 0.3 percent, P=0.04), and pulmonary embolism (13 percent vs. 11 percent, P=0.009). The differences in mortality persisted for all three diagnoses after adjustment for age, sex, and coexisting disorders. There were no significant differences in mortality between weekday and weekend admissions for the three control diagnoses. Weekend admissions were also associated with significantly higher mortality rates for 23 of the 100 leading causes of death and were not associated with significantly lower mortality rates for any of these conditions.
Source: “Mortality among Patients Admitted to Hospitals on Weekends as Compared with Weekdays” from N Engl J Med 2001; 345:663-668, August 30, 2001
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