The research, which involved nearly 30 million people, found that those admitted to hospital on the weekend are 10 per cent more likely to die.
He and his colleagues found that 2.7 per cent of the people admitted during the weekend died while in the hospital, while only 2.3 per cent of those admitted on a weekday died.
It is not the first study to uncover a ‘weekend effect.’ Previous research has shown such an effect for patients admitted after a heart attack, a blood clot in a lung, a ruptured abdominal artery and all kinds of strokes.
But he admitted that it’s possible that care is different on weekends, perhaps there is less nursing, fewer well-trained doctors, and less access to imaging and other testing equipment.
