European journal of epidemiology
-
Mortality in the USA has been shown to spike on Christmas and New Year's Day. No comparable analyses are available for European data despite recognised seasonal mortality variations. ⋯ No disturbance of trend was seen at Easter. The causes of the 'holiday phenomenon' are not understood, but absence of a Christmas spike in NNT may indicate that it is preventable.
-
To estimate the effect of waiting time for surgery and volume of surgical activity on mortality in patients with hip fracture and to compare risk-adjusted outcomes between hospitals providing surgery for such patients. ⋯ Longer waiting time for surgery was not associated with mortality after adjusting for patient risk factors, and taking into account hospital level variability. Hospital level variability was statistically significant, and was partially explained by the total volume of hospital surgical activity. The decrease in mortality between 1996 and 2000 was confirmed by multivariate models.