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Deadly heart attacks are more common on a Monday

(www.bhf.org.uk)
239 points giuliomagnifico | 2 comments | 06 Jun 23 13:19 UTC | HN request time: 0.023s | source
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lukko ◴[06 Jun 23 15:36 UTC] No.36214465[source]▶
I definitely felt Mondays on-call were much busier in the hospital. I always thought this could be due to patients spending weekends with family, not wanting to cause a fuss and maybe ignoring symptoms of cardiac chest pain until it evolves into a serious heart attack (STEMI). Also, they may be waiting to see their GP on Monday morning and then get referred to hospital (although less likely with STEMIs).

I also remember the time between Christmas and New Year being very busy - I thought for a similar reason - people understandably just don't want to be in hospital for Christmas.

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1. seizethecheese ◴[06 Jun 23 20:05 UTC] No.36218409[source]▶
An anecdote that supports this: I was just in the emergency department and asked them why it was so quiet on the weekend. They said many people wait until Monday to seek treatment for whatever reason.
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2. switch007 ◴[06 Jun 23 21:58 UTC] No.36219617[source]▶
Probably varies by hospital and area but things like imagining departments being closed might factor in to that. England here.

More than once a relative has been admitted on a Saturday and is just observed until Monday when the full diagnostics are available (eg MRI).