Introduction: Recent studies have reported an asso-ciation between the day of week of surgery and post-operative mortality, meaning that patients undergoing surgery at the end of the week or during weekends may be at higher risk. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the day of week of surgery on mortality and morbidity rates in a national Danish cohort of patients undergoing major elective surgery for colorectal cancer.
Methods: In a register-based study design, all patients undergoing elective major surgery for colorectal cancer in Denmark during a ten-year period (2005-2014) were studied. Patients were identified in the National Colorectal Cancer Database. Any associations between short-time mortality and morbidity rates within 30 days after operation and the day of week of surgery, as well as patient characteristics, treatment data and socioeconomic data were analysed.
Results: We were unable to show that the day of week had a significant impact on short-term mortality or on surgical or medical complications. There was no evidence that patients undergoing surgery on Fridays had more risk factors or were more socioeconomically deprived than patients undergoing surgery from Monday to Thursday.
Conclusions: The day of week of operation could not be shown to have any significant impact on the risk of post-operative surgical or medical complications or on short-term mortality in patients undergoing elective surgery for colorectal cancer in Denmark.
Funding: none.
Trial registration: not relevant.
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