ArticleAnnals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England2021
Is there a 'weekend effect' in elective lower limb arthroplasty?
Article in Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- No Weekend Effect in Elective Primary Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Nationwide Analysis of 437,121 U.S. Cases.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- The impact of "weekend effect" on the outcomes of total joint arthroplasty in the United States.International orthopaedics · 2025Article
- Moonlight surgery: no influence of moon phase or Friday 13th on outcomes of total knee arthroplasty.Archives of orthopaedic and trauma surgery · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe weekend effect has been defined as a real or perceived decline in patient care provided on weekends and that provided on weekdays. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the association between day of surgery and length of stay for patients receiving elective lower limb joint arthroplasty in a large NHS teaching hospital. MATERIALS AND
methodsData were obtained from a prospectively collected database of consecutive patients undergoing elective primary total knee and hip arthroplasty. Patient and clinical variables were collected alongside length of hospital stay. Data were anonymised and analysed using a multiple linear regression model.
resultsA total of 3,544 knee and 3,277 hip replacements were included. No association was found between length of stay and day of surgery for either procedure. A significant association was noted between longer length of stay and increasing age, higher American Society of Anesthesiologists grade and male compared with female gender. DISCUSSION: No evidence of a weekend effect was identified. Certain patient factors predicted longer hospital stay and focussing additional resources on these patient groups may prove a useful strategy in reducing overall length of stay.
conclusionsLength of stay reduced across the time period included in this review while maintaining equality between the days of the week, which represents the successful management of weekend services.
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Registered trials
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