More people died of covid at weekends, study finds

During the two years analsyed, they found the increase in deaths at weekends remained 'significant' during the early and later parts of those pandemic years. Picture: Denis Minihane

A study analysing covid-19 deaths across 10 countries found on average more people died at weekends than on week days during the pandemic up to March 2022.

The analysis of over 6m deaths between the start of the pandemic and March last year found: “the average number of daily global deaths from covid-19 was higher on weekends compared to weekdays”.

They found a difference of 8,532 vs 8,083, which they said was “equal to an absolute increase of 449 deaths and a 6% relative increase”.

The difference was significant, the study, carried out at the University of Toronto using data from the World Health Organisation, found.

They team said this was most marked in America, followed by Brazil among the countries analysed, which also included the United Kingdom and other European countries.

During the two years analsyed, they found the increase in deaths at weekends remained “significant” during the early and later parts of those pandemic years.

They also found this was the case during weeks of greater and lesser covid-19 case numbers.

Researchers, including University of Toronto Professor of medicne Donald Redelmeier, said they studied nearly 6m deaths over two years, using the World Health Organization covid-19 database.

They said they: “identified a persistent global anomaly in reported covid-19 deaths on weekends compared to weekdays.” These findings could have policy implications for public health care, the researchers suggested.

Findings showing “persistently high mortality” on weekends indicates there could be an opportunity for improving systems and care across all days of the week. They added: 

An awareness of the weekend anomaly in covid-19 mortality might help guide policy, frame risks, and educate leaders.

They also pointed to a potential impact on public behaviour at a time of high cases.

This, they linked to typically seeing lower numbers of deaths reported at the weekends for various reasons while in reality more deaths were occurring at weekends.

This lower reporting could have occurred for a number of reasons, they suggested, among them delays in reporting, uneven staffing, a different mix of personnel, or decreased efficiency.

The analysis was replicated in ten countries: United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, Russia, India and Brazil.

The study “covid-19 deaths on weekends” is available to read on the BMC Public Health journal for August.