Risk of Death Higher for Patients Admitted to ICU on Weekends

Saturday is not the day to be admitted to a hospital ICU.

Findings from a study published in the July issue of Chest indicate that patients who are admitted to the ICU on a weekend run a higher risk of dying than those who are admitted during the week.

Rodrigo Cavallazzi, MD, of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, and colleagues performed a systematic review of literature, selecting studies that evaluated the association between time of admission to the ICU and mortality, with adjustment for severity of disease. The researchers also analyzed data from previous studies, which have shown that 11.1% of patients admitted to the ICU on a weekday died, compared to 15.6% of weekend admits.

The pooled analysis demonstrated that nighttime admission was not associated with an increased mortality; however, patients admitted over the weekend had a significant increase in the adjusted risk of death (odds ratio of 1.08).

“The lower level of staffing and intensity of care provided by many hospitals over the weekend may account for this finding,” said investigators. “The heterogeneity noted between studies evaluating nighttime admissions likely reflects the diverse organizational structure of the hospitals and ICUs where these studies were carried out.”