An evaluation of the 'weekend effect' in patients admitted with metastatic prostate cancer.

Objectives: To investigate whether mortality is increased for patients with metastatic prostate cancer (mCaP) admitted over the weekend.
Patients and Methods: Using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) between 1998 and 2009, admitted patients with a diagnosis of prostate cancer and concomitant metastases were identified. Rates of in-hospital mortality, complications, use of imaging and procedures were assessed. Adjusted logistic regression models examined associations of mortality and complications.
Results: A weighted sample of 534,011 patients with mCaP was identified, including 81.7% weekday and 18.3% weekend admissions. Of these, 8.6% died after a weekday vs 10.9% after a weekend admission (P < 0.001). Patients admitted over the weekend were more likely to be treated at rural (17.8% vs 15.7%), non-teaching (57.6% vs 53.7%) and low-volume hospitals (53.4% vs 49.4%) (all P < 0.001) compared with weekday admissions. They presented higher rates of organ failure (25.2% vs 21.3%), and were less likely to undergo an interventional procedure (10.6% vs 11.4%) (all P < 0.001). More patients admitted over the weekend had pneumonia (12.2% vs 8.8%), pyelonephritis (18.3% vs 14.1%) and sepsis (4.5% vs. 3.5%) (all P < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, weekend admission was associated with an increased likelihood of complications (odds ratio [OR] 1.15, 95% confidence Interval [CI] 1.11-1.19) and mortality (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.14-1.27).
Conclusion: In patients with mCaP weekend admissions are associated with a significant increase in mortality and morbidity. Our findings suggest that weekend patients may present with more acute medical issues; alternatively, the quality of care over the weekend may be inferior.
(© 2014 The Authors BJU International © 2014 BJU International.)