Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29654003›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2018

Is the weekend effect really ubiquitous? A retrospective clinical cohort analysis of 30-day mortality by day of week and time of day using linked population data from New South Wales, Australia.

Heather J Baldwin, Sadaf Marashi-Pour, Huei-Yang Chen, Jill Kaldor, Kim Sutherland, Jean-Frederic Levesque

Erratum issuedAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 4 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Weekend Effect and Mortality Outcomes in Aortic Dissection: A Prospective Analysis.Journal of critical care medicine (Universitatea de Medicina si Farmacie din Targu-Mures) · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Heather J BaldwinBureau of Health Information, Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia.
Sadaf Marashi-PourBureau of Health Information, Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia.
Huei-Yang ChenBureau of Health Information, Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia.
Jill KaldorBureau of Health Information, Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia.
Kim SutherlandBureau of Health Information, Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia.
Jean-Frederic LevesqueCentre for Primary Health Care and Equity, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo examine the associations between day of week and time of admission and 30-day mortality for six clinical conditions: ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke, acute myocardial infarction, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure.

designRetrospective population-based cohort analyses. Hospitalisation records were linked to emergency department and deaths data. Random-effect logistic regression models were used, adjusting for casemix and taking into account clustering within hospitals.

settingAll hospitals in New South Wales, Australia, from July 2009 to June 2012.

participantsPatients admitted to hospital with a primary diagnosis for one of the six clinical conditions examined. OUTCOME MEASURES: Adjusted ORs for all-cause mortality within 30 days of admission, by day of week and time of day.

resultsA total of 148 722 patients were included in the study, with 17 721 deaths within 30 days of admission. Day of week of admission was not associated with significantly higher likelihood of death for five of the six conditions after adjusting for casemix. There was significant variation in mortality for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by day of week; however, this was not consistent with a strict weekend effect (Thursday: OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.48; Friday: OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.44; Saturday: OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.37; Sunday OR 1.05, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.22; compared with Monday). There was evidence for a night effect for patients admitted for stroke (ischaemic: OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.17 to 1.45; haemorrhagic: OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.40 to 1.78).

conclusionsMortality outcomes for these conditions, adjusted for casemix, do not vary in accordance with the weekend effect hypothesis. Our findings support a growing body of evidence that questions the ubiquity of the weekend effect.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultAgedAged, 80 and overCardiovascular DiseasesFemaleHeart FailureHospitalizationHumansLung DiseasesMaleMiddle AgedMortalityMyocardial InfarctionNew South WalesPatient Admissionhealth policypublic healthquality in health care

Identifiers

PMID29654003
PMCPMC5898331

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.