People who are hospitalised with pneumonia or the lung disease, COPD, are more likely to die during a weekend stay irrespective of the day they were admitted, a new study suggests.

Previous research has found what is referred to as the ‘weekend effect'. i.e. patients have an increased risk of dying if they are admitted to hospital at the weekend. A number of reasons have been suggested for this including staff shortages.

However, this latest study decided to assess the ‘weekend effect' in a different way. It investigated whether patients had an increased risk of death if they stayed in hospital over a weekend, even if they were admitted earlier that week.

Canadian researchers examined the death rates of over 300,000 people over the age of 50, who had been admitted to hospital with pneumonia or COPD between 1990 and 2007.

COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is an umbrella term for a number of chronic lung disorders, including bronchitis and emphysema. It is a progressive, disabling condition caused by a narrowing of the airways, which leads to breathing difficulties. Smoking is the main cause. It currently affects around 440,000 people in Ireland and is the world's fourth biggest killer.

The study found that patients who had to stay in hospital over the weekend had an increased risk of death irrespective of when they were admitted.

During an average weekday, the death rate was 80 per 10,000. However, on a Friday, this increased by 5% and on a Saturday or Sunday, it increased by 7%.

The researchers believe that this increased risk may be due to an overall reduced quality of care or less access to high-quality care at the weekend. This effect appears to start each Friday, they noted.

"Our study is the first to report an increase in mortality for patients staying in hospital over the weekend. The findings of our study have huge implications for the way healthcare is delivered across the globe. It may be time to reconsider the weekend concept in the healthcare calendar to avert a significant number of likely preventable deaths," they said.

Details of these findings are published in the European Respiratory Journal.