Complications, Mortality Up With Surgery Immediately Preceding Weekend

WEDNESDAY, March 5, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Patients who undergo surgery immediately preceding the weekend have an increased risk for complications, readmission, and mortality at 30 days, 90 days, and one year compared with those undergoing surgery after the weekend, according to a study published online March 4 in JAMA Network Open.

Sanjana Ranganathan, M.D., from Houston Methodist Hospital, and colleagues examined differences in short- and long-term postoperative outcomes of patients undergoing surgical procedures immediately (one day) before versus after the weekend in a retrospective cohort analysis. The cohort included 429,691 adult patients in Ontario undergoing one of 25 common surgical procedures between Jan. 1, 2007, and Dec. 31, 2019; 46.5 and 53.5 percent underwent surgery before and after the weekend, respectively.

The researchers found that patients in the preweekend versus postweekend group were more likely to experience the composite outcome of death, complications, and readmissions at 30 days, 90 days, and one year after surgery (adjusted odds ratios, 1.05, 1.06, and 1.05, respectively). The preweekend versus postweekend group had increased odds of mortality at 30 days, 90 days, and one year (adjusted odds ratios, 1.09, 1.10, and 1.12, respectively).

“It is important for health care systems to assess how this phenomenon may impact their practices to ensure that patients receive excellent care irrespective of the day,” the authors write.

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