Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35791855›Full record

SynthesisHealth services research2022

The impact of health care strikes on patient mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.

Ryan Essex, Sharon Marie Weldon, Trevor Thompson, Erika Kalocsányiová, Paul McCrone, Sanjoy Deb

Open access · hybridAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Health services research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
20citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
12.5field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
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

20 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 47 citations in OpenAlex.

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  13. The Fallacy of Person-Centred Care: Deconstructing the Discourse to Reimagine Practice.Nursing philosophy : an international journal for healthcare professionals · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Ryan EssexInstitute for Lifecourse Development, University of Greenwich, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-3497-3137
Sharon Marie WeldonInstitute for Lifecourse Development, University of Greenwich, London, UK.
Trevor ThompsonSchool of Human Sciences, University of Greenwich, London, UK.
Erika KalocsányiováInstitute for Lifecourse Development, University of Greenwich, London, UK.
Paul McCroneInstitute for Lifecourse Development, University of Greenwich, London, UK.
Sanjoy DebSchool of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, London, UK.
University of Greenwich · GBBarts Health NHS Trust · GBUniversity of Westminster · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveThis study sought to evaluate the impact of health care strike action on patient mortality. DATA SOURCES: EMBASE, PubMed CINAHL, BIOETHICSLINE, EconLit, WEB OF SCIENCE, and grey literature were searched up to December 2021. STUDY

designA systematic review and meta-analysis were utilized. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION: Random-effects meta-analysis was used to compare mortality rate during strike versus pre- or post-strike, with meta-regression employed to identify factors that might influence the potential impact of strike action. Studies were included if they were observational studies that examined in-hospital/clinic or population mortality during a strike period compared with a control period where there was no strike action. PRINCIPAL

findingsSeventeen studies examined mortality: 14 examined in-hospital mortality and three examined population mortality. In-hospital studies represented 768,918 admissions and 7191 deaths during strike action and 1,034,437 admissions and 12,676 deaths during control periods. The pooled relative risk (RR) of in-hospital mortality did not significantly differ during strike action versus non-strike periods (RR = 0.91, 95% confidence interval 0.63, 1.31, p = 0.598). Meta-regression also showed that mortality RR was not significantly impacted by country (p = 0.98), profession on strike (p = 0.32 for multiple professions, p = 0.80 for nurses), the duration of the strike (p = 0.26), or whether multiple facilities were on strike (p = 0.55). Only three studies that examined population mortality met the inclusion criteria; therefore, further analysis was not conducted. However, it is noteworthy that none of these studies reported a significant increase in population mortality attributable to strike action.

conclusionsBased on the data available, this review did not find any evidence that strike action has any significant impact on in-hospital patient mortality.

Indexed as

Health FacilitiesHospitalizationDelivery of Health CareHospital MortalityHumanshealth care workerhealth policyhealth systemsmortalityproteststrike

Identifiers

PMID35791855
PMCPMC9643090
OpenAlexW4283824759

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.