Monday will come, every part can be fantastic?

In November, two studies on weekend hospital admissions hit our news. Scientists involved in the primary study Association between weekend hospital visits and stroke mortality, published on November 2, included consecutive patients with acute stroke or transient ischemic attack who were admitted to the emergency department or admitted to the hospital. Of these 20,657 patients, stroke mortality was higher (8.1% vs. 7.0%) for weekend hospital admission compared with weekday admission.

The second study, Weekend Admissions Predicting Higher Mortality in Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease, was presented in the course of the American Society of Nephrology’s Nephrology Week in 2010. In this retrospective study, 19.7% of the 836,550 estimated end-stage renal disease admissions were admitted on weekend. Researchers found that those admitted on the weekend had a significantly higher mortality rate (7.6% vs. 6.6%) than those admitted on a weekday.

A review of the literature on “weekend hospital admissions” revealed several other similar studies published within the last 2 years. These included studies on patients with acute kidney injury, gastrointestinal hemorrhageAND heart failure. All studies ended with similar results; which means admission to hospital on a weekend is related to a better risk of death in comparison with admission on a weekday. What are the causes of this “weekend phenomenon”?