The death rate among hospital patients with heart failure is highest among those admitted overnight on a Friday in January, new research indicates.

According to the US scientists who carried out the research, being able to identify when there are peaks in hospital admissions and mortality could lead to a better allocation of resources.

While seasonal, weekly and even hourly variations have been found in these types of hospital admissions, the link between these variations, length of hospital stay and mortality have not been analysed in a single study.

The scientists decided to investigate this further. They looked at the month, day and hour of the hospital admissions of almost one million heart failure patients between 1994 and 2007 and examined the impact of this on length of stay and mortality.

The study found that over the 14-year period, while hospital admissions for heart failure increased significantly, the length of stay and mortality rates fell. According to the researchers, these findings ‘confirm the huge decline in mortality in hospitals for heart failure over the past 14-15 years following major advances in therapy'.

The study also found that while hospital admissions for heart failure peaked in February, length of stay and mortality peaked in January. Furthermore, the mortality rate was lowest among patients admitted between 6am and midday, but highest among those admitted between 6pm and midnight.

Meanwhile, mortality rates were lowest among those admitted on a Monday and highest among those admitted on a Friday.

The scientists believe that staffing may have a role to play.

"The fact that patients admitted right before the weekend and in the middle of the night do worse and are in hospital longer suggests that staffing levels may contribute to the findings," they suggested.

They added that hospital staff ‘need to be more vigilant during these higher risk times and ensure that adequate resources are in place to cope with demand'.

"Patients should be aware that their disease is not the same over the course of the year and they may be at higher risk during the winter. People often avoid coming into hospital during the holidays because of family pressures and a personal desire to stay at home, but they may be putting themselves in danger," the team added.

Details of these findings were presented at the Heart Failure Congress 2013 in Lisbon, Portugal.

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