title: Association of weekend effect with early mortality in severe sepsis patients over time.
abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate the "weekend effect" and early mortality of patients with severe sepsis.
  
  
  
  Using the Taiwanese National Healthcare Insurance Research Database, all patients who were hospitalized for the first time with an episode of severe sepsis between January 2000 and December 2011 were identified and the short-term mortality of patients admitted on weekdays was compared to those admitted on weekends. The primary endpoint was 7-day mortality. The secondary endpoints were 14 and 28-day mortality.
  
  
  
  A total of 398,043 patients were identified to have had the diagnosis of severe sepsis. Compared with patients admitted on weekends, patients admitted on weekdays had a lower 7-day mortality rate (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.89, 95% confidential interval [CI] 0.87-0.91), 14-day mortality rate (adjusted OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.90-0.93), and 28-day mortality rate (adjusted OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.95-0.98). This "weekend effect" was maintained every year throughout the 11-year study period.
  
  
  
  Patients with severe sepsis are more likely to die in the hospital if they were admitted on weekends than if they were admitted on weekdays.
authors.affiliation: Section of Emergency Medicine and Critical Care, Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Surgical ICU Translational Research (STAR) Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Chest Medicine, Taipei City Hospital, Heping Fuyou Branch, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Ning
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Shih
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Taipei City Hospital, Heping Fuyou Branch, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yung-Tai
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Yuanshan Branch, Yilan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chia-Jen
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Shih
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shuo-Ming
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Ou
authors.affiliation: Department of Chest Medicine, Taipei City Hospital, Heping Fuyou Branch, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yen-Tao
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Radiology, Taipei City Hospital, Heping Fuyou Branch, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ran-Chou
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Section of Emergency Medicine and Critical Care, Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Imoigele P
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: Aisiku
authors.affiliation: Section of Emergency Medicine and Critical Care, Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Surgical ICU Translational Research (STAR) Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Raghu R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Seethala
authors.affiliation: Surgical ICU Translational Research (STAR) Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Gyorgy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Frendl
authors.affiliation: Section of Emergency Medicine and Critical Care, Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Surgical ICU Translational Research (STAR) Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: phou@bwh.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Peter C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Hou
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010343:Patient Admission; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018805:Sepsis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality*; D013624:Taiwan; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Mortality; Sepsis; Weekend effect