Weekend admissions as an independent predictor of mortality: an analysis of Scottish hospital admissions.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Weekend admissions have been shown to be associated with an increased risk of mortality compared with weekday admissions for many diagnoses. We analysed emergency department admissions within the Scottish National Health Service to investigate whether mortality is increased in case of weekend emergency department admissions.

Design

A cohort study.

Setting

Scotland National Health Service (NHS) emergency departments.

Participants

5 271 327 emergency department admissions between 1999 and 2009. We included all patients admitted via emergency departments recorded in the Scottish Morbidity Records (SMR01) in NHS, Scotland for whom complete demographic data were available.

Primary outcome measures

Death as recorded by the General Register Office (G

SUBMITTER: Handel AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3533021 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature