The weekend effect in status epilepticus: a national cohort study

Area of Science:

• Critical Care Medicine
• Neurology
• Health Services Research

Background:

• A
• weekend effect
• on hospital mortality has been observed for various conditions, but its causes (patient factors vs. care quality) remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if weekend admission to critical care for status epilepticus in the UK is associated with higher in-hospital mortality.
• To explore potential differences in the weekend effect between university and non-university hospitals.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 20,922 adult critical care admissions for status epilepticus in UK hospitals between 2010 and 2015.
• Use of multiple logistic regression to assess the association between weekend admission and in-hospital mortality.
• Comparison of mortality rates between weekend and weekday admissions, stratified by hospital type (university vs. non-university).

Main Results:

• Overall in-hospital mortality was 12% (2462 deaths).
• No significant difference in mortality was found for weekend admissions to university hospitals (adjusted OR 0.99, P=0.89).
• Weekend admissions to non-university hospitals showed lower mortality compared to weekday admissions (adjusted OR 0.74, P=0.0001).

Conclusions:

• Adults admitted to UK critical care for status epilepticus on weekends do not face higher in-hospital mortality.
• The study provides no evidence supporting a detrimental "weekend effect" on mortality for this patient group in critical care settings.
• Observed lower mortality in non-university hospitals during weekends warrants further investigation into potential contributing factors.