Saturday January 30, 2010
Weekend vs Weekday Stroke

Objective: To determine whether there is a difference in the quality or aggressiveness of care for patients experiencing acute ischemic stroke (AIS) on weekends vs weekdays.

Patients : Its a retrospective study of patients with AIS

Main Outcome Measures: Treatment with tissue plasminogen activator and in-hospital mortality.

Results:

• Patients with AIS admitted on weekends are more likely to receive tissue plasminogen activator than those admitted on weekdays
• No statistically significant difference was noted in patient mortality based on day of admission
• We detected no difference in the likelihood to seek hospital care on weekends between patients with AIS vs patients with hemorrhagic stroke.

Conclusions: Patients experiencing AIS are more likely to receive tissue plasminogen activator on weekends than on weekdays. Patients experiencing AIS who are admitted on weekends are no more likely to die than those who are admitted on weekdays. Further research is necessary to understand differences in weekend vs weekday care.


Hospital Care for Patients Experiencing Weekend vs Weekday Stroke - Arch Neurol. 2010;67(1):39-44.