# Association of emergency room admissions and weekdays in musculoskeletal medicine: results from a major trauma centre in Germany

## TL;DR

The study found that emergency room admissions in musculoskeletal medicine vary by weekday, with more patients admitted on weekends.

## Contribution

The study provides empirical evidence of a significant association between the day of the week and emergency room admissions in a major trauma center.

## Key findings

- Saturday and Sunday had the highest number of emergency admissions.
- Thursday had the lowest number of emergency admissions (P < 0.01).
- Admission patterns suggest possible links to patient activity and healthcare availability differences between weekdays and weekends.

## Abstract

Seven days is a week. This ancient concept of structuring our everyday lives has survived several millennia. The repetitious cycle of work and rest is still shaping our routine, influencing the occurrence of diseases and necessities in emergency departments.

We analysed the admissions to a trauma emergency department of a level 3 trauma centre from 2018 to 2024, looking for changes in admission frequency based on the seven days a week.

Data from 53,597 patients were collected, of whom 45.4% (24,336 of 53,597) were women. The mean age was 35.9 ± 25.4 years. A strong association emerged between the day of the week and the number of admitted patients. In particular, Saturday and Sunday had the most admittances, whereas Thursday was the least busy (P < 0.01).

While we cannot present data on the reasons for this increase, it is probable to account for this rise in a different activity profile of the patients in comparison to the work week. Other factors that might influence this are the patients’ obligations during the work week and the availability of medical care limited to ERs on weekends. Independent of all these reasons, these data may help healthcare providers allocate their resources based on patient volume and emergency conditions.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12873-025-01377-8.