With growing evidence of its efficacy for patients with large-vessel occlusion (LVO) ischemic stroke, the use of endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) has increased. The “weekend effect,” whereby patients presenting during weekends/off hours have worse clinical outcomes than those presenting during normal working hours, is a critical area of study in acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Our objective was to evaluate whether a “weekend effect” exists in patients undergoing EVT.
This retrospective, cross-sectional analysis of the 2016-2018 Nationwide Inpatient Sample data included patients ≥18 years with documented diagnosis of ischemic stroke (ICD-10 codes I63, I64, and H34.1), procedural code for EVT, and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score; the exposure variable was weekend vs. weekday treatment. The primary outcome was in-hospital death; secondary outcomes were favorable discharge, extended hospital stay (LOS), and cost. Logistic regression models were constructed to determine predictors for outcomes.
We identified 6052 AIS patients who received EVT (mean age 68.7±14.8 years; 50.8% female; 70.8% White; median (IQR) admission NIHSS 16 (10-21). The primary outcome of in-hospital death occurred in 560 (11.1%); the secondary outcome of favorable discharge occurred in 1039 (20.6%). The mean LOS was 7.8±8.6 days. There were no significant differences in the outcomes or cost based on admission timing. In the mixed-effects models, we found no effect of weekend vs. weekday admission on in-hospital death, favorable discharge, or extended LOS.
These results demonstrate that the “weekend effect” does not impact outcomes or cost for patients who undergo EVT for LVO.

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