Association Between Weekend and Holiday Admission with Pneumonia and Mortality in a Tertiary Center in Portugal: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Little is known about this effect in patients with acute bacterial pneumonia.Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of weekend and holiday hospital admission on the outcomes of acute bacterial pneumonia. Material and Methods:Retrospective analysis of adult patients (> 18 years) with acute bacterial pneumonia collected from a tertiary referral center database. Length of stay, total cost, admission to intensive care unit, development of sepsis and organ failure, and mortality were compared between patients admitted on a weekday and patients admitted during a weekend or holiday. Results: We analyzed 53 854 hospital admissions from 42 512 patients (median age 84.0 years, range 18 -118 years), corresponding to 30 554 admissions during weekdays, 21 222 at weekends and 2078 during public holidays. Weekend and holiday admission was not associated with increased costs, length of stay, intensive care unit admission, development of sepsis, organ failure, and mortality. Conclusion: A weekend/holiday effect in acute bacterial pneumonia was not evident in our series.

Association of Sepsis Diagnosis at Daytime and on Weekdays with Compliance with the 3-Hour Sepsis Treatment Bundles. A Multicenter Cohort Study

“…Few studies have evaluated the association of diagnosing infectious diseases and sepsis at different periods of the day and the week on compliance with guidelines and outcomes, and the results have been conflicting (16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21).…”

The weekend effect in liver transplantation

“…Previous studies suggested a reduction in medical staffing and resources as well as a possible restriction in diagnostic and therapeutic tools on weekends to be responsible for the observed differences in mortality and morbidity [ 2 , 3 ]. While studies have shown a weekend effect for different medical conditions (including acute kidney injury [ 4 ], pneumonia [ 5 ] or dysrhythmia [ 6 ]) major commonalities among conditions affected by a weekend effect are the need for time sensitive interventions and care at an intensive care unit. In line with this, there are numerous reports about a weekend effect for stroke [ 7 – 9 ] myocardial infarction [ 10 , 11 ] or pulmonary embolism [ 12 , 13 ].…”

Survival Outcomes Are Not Affected When Liver Transplant Surgery Is Done at Night, During Weekends, or Summer Months

“…Many studies have shown that patients hospitalized outside regular working hours with myocardial infarction, 1 pulmonary embolism, 2 stroke, 3 ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, 4 heart failure, 5 or gastrointestinal bleeding 6 have worse outcomes, but there are few conflicting reports. 7-10 Except for emergency surgical procedures, most complex surgical procedures are done electively. However, when such surgeries are performed at night, a higher incidence of serious complication rates has been reported with colorectal, laparoscopic, and orthopedic surgeries.…”