Effect of weekend admission on mortality risk in patients with sepsis and septic shock: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: There is an ongoing debate if weekend admissions of critically ill patients are associated with higher mortality rates. The current review aimed to specifically assess this effect in sepsis and septic shock patients by comparing mortality rates with weekend versus weekday admissions.

Methods: PubMed, CENTRAL, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase were searched up to 20th February 2023 with an additional search of Google Scholar for gray literature.

Results: Nine studies were eligible. Meta-analysis of all nine studies with data from 1,134,417 patients demonstrated that sepsis or septic shock patients admitted on weekends don't have higher mortality as compared to those admitted on weekdays (OR: 1.04; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.09; p = 0.05; I²= 93%). On subgroup analysis based on sample size (>2000 or <2000 patients) and timing of mortality, we noted no difference in the significance of the results. However, there was a small significant increased risk of mortality with weekend admission noted in studies on the Asian population and including septic shock patients.

Conclusion: Weekend admission does not have an adverse impact on mortality rates of sepsis and septic shock patients. Results must be interpreted with caution owing to high interstudy heterogeneity and variation in confounders adjusted by individual studies.