Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2014 Aug;60(2):318-24.
doi: 10.1016/j.jvs.2014.02.052. Epub 2014 Apr 4.

Effects of weekend admission on the outcomes and management of ruptured aortic aneurysms

Elliott M Groves  1 , Mahdi Khoshchehreh  2 , Christine Le  3 , Shaista Malik  4
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Effects of weekend admission on the outcomes and management of ruptured aortic aneurysms

Elliott M Groves et al. J Vasc Surg. 2014 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: Ruptured aortic aneurysm is a condition with a high rate of mortality that requires prompt surgical intervention. It has been noted that in some conditions requiring such prompt intervention, in-hospital mortality is increased in patients admitted on the weekends compared with patients admitted on weekdays. We sought to determine if this was indeed the case for both ruptured thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) and abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) and to elucidate the possible reasons.

Methods: Using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a publicly available database of inpatient care, we analyzed the incidence of mortality among 7200 patients admitted on the weekends compared with weekdays for ruptured aortic aneurysm. Among these patients, 19% had a TAA and 81% had an AAA, and each group was analyzed for differences in mortality during the hospitalization. We adjusted for demographics, comorbid conditions, hospital characteristics, rates of surgical intervention, timing of surgical intervention, and use of additional therapeutic measures.

Results: Patients admitted on the weekend for both ruptured TAA and AAA had a statistically significant increase in mortality compared with those admitted on the weekdays (TAA: odds ratio, 2.55; 95% confidence interval, 1.77-3.68; P = .03; AAA: odds ratio, 1.32; 95% confidence interval, 1.13-1.55; P = .0004). Among those with TAA, a surgical intervention was performed on day of admission in 62.1% of weekday admissions vs 34.9% of weekend admissions (P < .0001). This difference was much smaller among those with an aortic aneurysm; 79.6% had a surgical intervention on day of admission on a weekday vs 77.2% on the weekend (P < .0001).

Conclusions: Weekend admission for ruptured aortic aneurysm is associated with an increased mortality compared with admission on a weekday, and this is likely due to several factors including a delay in prompt surgical intervention.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Weekday versus Weekend Crude Mortality in those admitted with Ruptured Abdominal and Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Griepp R, Ergin MA, Lansman S, Galla J, Pogo G, editors. Seminars in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery. 1991. The natural history of thoracic aortic aneurysms. - PubMed
    1. Giles KA, Pomposelli F, Hamdan A, Wyers M, Jhaveri A, Schermerhorn ML. Decrease in total aneurysm-related deaths in the era of endovascular aneurysm repair. Journal of Vascular Surgery. 2009;49(3):543–550. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Murphy SL, Xu J, Kochanek KD. Deaths: final data for 2010. National vital statistics reports. 2013;61(4) - PubMed
    1. Dillavou ED, Muluk SC, Makaroun MS. A decade of change in abdominal aortic aneurysm repair in the United States: Have we improved outcomes equally between men and women? Journal of vascular surgery: official publication, the Society for Vascular Surgery [and] International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery, North American Chapter. 2006;43(2):230. - PubMed
    1. Kuivaniemi H, Platsoucas CD, Tilson MD., III Aortic aneurysms an immune disease with a strong genetic component. Circulation. 2008;117(2):242–252. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms