title: In-hospital mortality and treatment patterns in acute myocardial infarction patients admitted during national cardiology meeting dates.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many hospitals experience a reduction in the number of available physicians on days when national scientific meetings are conducted. This study investigates the relationship between in-hospital mortality in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients and admission during national cardiology meeting dates.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using an administrative database, we analyzed patients with AMI admitted to acute care hospitals in Japan from 2011 to 2013. There were 3 major national cardiology meetings held each year. A hierarchical logistic regression model was used to compare in-hospital mortality and treatment patterns between patients admitted on meeting dates and those admitted on identical days during the week before and after the meeting dates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified 6,332 eligible patients, with 1,985 patients admitted during 26 meeting days and 4,347 patients admitted during 52 non-meeting days. No significant differences between meeting and non-meeting dates were observed for in-hospital mortality (7.4% vs. 8.5%, respectively; p=0.151, unadjusted odds ratio: 0.861, 95% confidence interval: 0.704-1.054) and the proportion of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) performed on the day of admission (75.9% vs. 76.2%, respectively; p=0.824). We also found that some low-staffed hospitals did not treat AMI patients during meeting dates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Little or no "national meeting effect" was observed on in-hospital mortality in AMI patients, and PCI rates were similar for both meeting and non-meeting dates. Our findings also indicated that during meeting dates, AMI patients may have been consolidated to high-performance and sufficiently staffed hospitals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Healthcare Economics and Quality Management, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Yosihida Konoe-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Seiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mizuno
authors.affiliation: Department of Healthcare Economics and Quality Management, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Yosihida Konoe-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kunisawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Healthcare Economics and Quality Management, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Yosihida Konoe-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Informatics, Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Kiyohide
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fushimi
authors.affiliation: Department of Healthcare Economics and Quality Management, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Yosihida Konoe-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan. Electronic address: imanaka-y@umin.net.
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Imanaka
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002309:Cardiology / Q000639:trends*; D003226:Congresses as Topic / Q000639:trends*; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy*; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000639:trends*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Acute myocardial infarction; Cardiology meeting; In-hospital mortality; Percutaneous coronary intervention; Revascularization