"Weekend effects" in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage

Studies have shown that weekend admissions are associated with outcomes of patients with different diseases. Our aim is to evaluate the weekend effects in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in our hospital. A retrospective analysis of patients with ICH was performed. Weekend admission was defined as the period from Friday, 6:01 p.m., to Monday, 7:59 a.m. The ICH score was used to evaluate severity on admission. The chi-square goodness-of-fit test was applied to analyze weekly distribution. The rank sum test was conducted to calculate the functional outcomes (modified Rankin scale, MRS), and the mortality was compared by binary logistic regression. Between 2008 and 2009, 313 patients with ICH were included, of which 30% (95/313) were admitted on the weekend. Patients with ICH were equally distributed on weekdays and weekends (P=0.7123). Weekend admission was not a statistically significant predictive factor for in-hospital mortality (P=0.315) and functional outcomes (P=0.128) in patients with ICH. However, a significant correlation was found between the ICH score and the mortality (OR=6.819, 95%CI: 4.323-10.757; P=0.009). Our results suggest that compared with weekday admission, weekend admission is not significantly associated with increased short-term mortality and poorer functional outcome among patients hospitalized with ICH.