ArticleScientific reports2026
Weekend effect in emergency hospitalizations of older adults in Hong Kong.
Article in Scientific reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The impact of the weekend effect on hospitalization outcomes remains debated. This study evaluated the "weekend effect" by defining two distinct patterns based on admission-discharge timing: "weekend-admission/discharge" (either admission or discharge occurring on weekends) and "weekday-admission-discharge" (both admission and discharge occurring on weekdays). Utilizing 3,447,877 emergency hospitalization spells among older patients in Hong Kong from 2012 to 2021, multivariable logistic regression with a random effect of hospital revealed that the weekend-admission/discharge pattern accounted for 42.5% of hospitalizations and was associated with significantly higher in-hospital mortality (5.0% vs. 3.8%; adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.359, 95% CI: 1.344-1.373). Paradoxically, this pattern demonstrated minimally protective effects for post-discharge outcomes, with lower 30-day mortality (aOR = 0.963, 95% CI: 0.948-0.978) and reduced 30-day emergency readmission risk (aOR = 0.986, 95% CI: 0.979-0.992). Subgroup analyses confirmed consistent elevation of in-hospital mortality risk across all spell groups, while revealing substantial variations by length of stay, clinical specialty, and principal diagnosis. The protective post-discharge effects were predominantly observed among those with longer hospitalizations. These findings demonstrate a complex duality in weekend care outcomes and suggest that the weekend effect reflects systemic care integration challenges and selective discharge patterns rather than simple temporal variations in care quality. Future quality improvement initiatives should focus on enhancing care continuity and developing targeted approaches for high-risk clinical contexts. Meanwhile, more research is needed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms driving these paradoxical outcomes.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.