Do not delay hospitalization
Larissa Melville completed her traineeship in the editorial team of . After studying biology at Ludwig Maximilians University and the Technical University of Munich, she first got to know digital media online at Focus and then decided to learn medical journalism from scratch.
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.MunichPatients who come to the hospital at the weekend die more often. But not because there is a lack of care, but because patients often wait too long before deciding whether to admit them.
It is a well-known phenomenon that patients admitted to hospital at the weekend die more often than those who come during the week. Doctors call it the "weekend effect". So far, the assumption has prevailed that this is due to poor medical care. Because on Saturday and Sunday most of the doctors and especially the chief physicians are not in the house. Danish researchers led by Betina Vest-Hansen from Aarhus University Hospital have now found that this is apparently not the reason for the increased mortality.
The time of admission is decisive
For their study, the scientists analyzed the data of around 174,000 adult Danes who were hospitalized for the first time in 2010. The team focused on the patients with the 20 most common diagnoses such as pneumonia, stroke or angina pectoris. In addition, the researchers also included the time of inclusion in their analysis: on weekdays within opening hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), on workdays outside of these times, on weekends between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday nights. Finally, they checked which of the patients died within 30 days.
The result: most of the sick came to the clinic during normal business hours during the week - often with a referral from a general practitioner or specialist. An average of 39 people per hour were recorded at this time. At night, on the other hand, there were only 13. Over the weekend, an average of 20 patients were admitted to clinics during the day and eight at night.
Bad outlook for weekend patients
In addition, the analysis showed that the patients who came to the hospital outside of opening hours and especially on weekends were more often dependent on the ambulance and intensive care. And not only that, they also died more often. 5.1 percent of those who came to the hospital during normal business hours succumbed to their illness within a month. In contrast, those who were admitted at the weekend were 6.4 percent - around a quarter more.
Don't try to wait until Monday
The authors of the study suspect that their findings are related to the different severity of the illnesses: People who are admitted to hospital on Saturday or Sunday are usually particularly ill.
In many cases, the patients did not take their symptoms seriously enough and hesitated too long - "It's okay, I'd rather go to the doctor on Monday."
The weekend effect was particularly high in angina pectoris, atrial fibrillation, blood poisoning, anemia and COPD - the risk of dying within the next 30 days was in some cases more than doubled for weekend patients.
The results of the study confirm how important it is to take the first symptoms seriously and, if necessary, to drive to the hospital early on the weekend or to call the emergency doctor. This is the only way to prevent worse things from happening with some diseases.
Source: Vest-Hansen B. et al .: Out-of-hours and weekend admissions to Danish medical departments: admission rates and 30-day mortality for 20 common medical conditions. British Medical Journal. DOI: 10.1136 / bmjopen-2014- 006731
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