Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Search research articles

Related Experiment Videos

There is no 'weekend effect' in elective orthopaedic surgery.

Mohammad Al-Ashqar¹, Adeel Aqil¹, Hannah Phillips¹

¹Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust , Huddersfield , UK.

Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England

|June 19, 2018

Summary

The weekend effect does not impact elective orthopaedic surgery outcomes. This study found no significant difference in length of stay or mortality for patients undergoing hip or knee replacements on weekdays versus weekends.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Evaluation of combined multi-chamber with compounded bags and multi-chamber bags only for British adults on home parenteral nutrition: A mixed methods pilot study.

Intestinal Failure (New York, N.Y.)·2026

Same author

Development of a computational recommendation system for parenteral nutrition prescription: An algorithm study.

JPEN. Journal of parenteral and enteral nutrition·2026

Same author

Cytogenetic Testing in Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma: Real World Evidence on Clinical Features and Adverse Outcomes for High Risk Groups.

Clinical lymphoma, myeloma & leukemia·2026

Same author

Treatment of patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma who are ineligible for autologous stem cell transplantation: position statement of the Myeloma Foundation of Australia Medical and Scientific Advisory Group.

Internal medicine journal·2026

Same author

Establishing Barriers to and Enablers of Nurse-Enabled Subcutaneous Therapy Self-Administration Programs for Patients With Myeloma: Protocol for a Qualitative Descriptive Study.

JMIR research protocols·2025

Same author

The Citizen Science Stream Index - a simple and effective citizen science biomonitoring protocol using six key macroinvertebrate indicator taxa.

The Science of the total environment·2025

Area of Science:

Orthopaedic Surgery
Health Services Research

Background:

The 'weekend effect' hypothesis suggests poorer patient outcomes due to hospital admission or surgery timing.
Evidence for this effect in elective orthopaedic surgery remains inconclusive.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the existence of a 'weekend effect' in patients undergoing elective orthopaedic procedures.
To determine if surgery timing influences patient outcomes, specifically length of stay and mortality.

Main Methods:

Retrospective analysis of electronic patient records for elective orthopaedic surgery patients.
Inclusion of demographic and International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) coding data.
Multivariate analyses to identify risk factors for prolonged hospital stays and assessment of 30-day mortality based on surgery day.

Keywords:

Arthroplasty Length of stay Mortality Weekend effect

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

Analysis of 892 patients undergoing total hip or knee replacements over one year.
No significant difference in average length of stay between weekday (91.3%) and weekend (8.7%) surgery groups (P = 0.95).
Increasing age and American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score of 2 were associated with prolonged hospitalization; no deaths occurred in weekend surgery patients.

Conclusions:

The 'weekend effect' is not observed in elective orthopaedic surgery.
Patient age and ASA score are significant predictors of prolonged hospital stays.
Surgery timing on weekdays versus weekends does not appear to affect outcomes for these elective procedures.