“Weekend effect” for emergency general surgery has almost disappeared, study shows

The risk of death following emergency admission for general surgery has fallen significantly since 2000 and is no more likely following admission at the weekend than it is following admission midweek, a study published in the British Journal of Surgery has shown.1

Historically there has been a significantly increased risk of death from operations undertaken at the weekend, but that gap had narrowed substantially in recent years to become no longer significant, the results showed.

Researchers analysed data on general surgical admissions to NHS hospitals in the Northern Deanery in England between 2000 and 2014. There were 12 100 in-hospital deaths within 30 days of admission (3.3%), but …