August 30, 2001 - This week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) contains a Canadian study that shows that weekend hospital admissions have a higher risk of dying than weekday admissions.

Here is the NEJM abstract of the article entitled, "Mortality among Patients Admitted to Hospitals on Weekends as Compared with Weekdays".

The study found that patients who were suffering from renal failure and were admitted to the hospital during a weekend had a 36% mortality rate, compared to a 30% rate for those admitted during weekdays.

This information should not discourage people from seeking medical help during weekends for serious problems. As one of the researchers said, "If you don't show up, your mortality rate is 100 percent."

Here are summaries of the study from the Boston Globe and from Medical Economics. (web links are no longer available)


[This message has been edited by Gary Peterson (edited 12-09-2001).]