Mortality and readmission rates of patients discharged in-hours and out-of-hours from a British ICU over a 3-year period

Excess in-hospital mortality following out-of-hours ICU discharge has been reported worldwide. From preliminary data, we observed that magnitude of difference may be reduced when patients discharged for end-of-life care or organ donation are excluded. We speculated that these patients may be disproportionately discharged out-of-hours, biasing results. We now compare in-hospital mortality and ICU readmission rates following discharge in-hours and out-of-hours over 3 years, excluding discharges for organ donation or end-of-life care. This single-centre retrospective study includes patients discharged alive following ICU admission between 01/07/2015-31/07/2018, excluding readmissions and discharges for end-of-life care/organ donation. A multiple logistic regression model was fitted to estimate adjusted odds ratio of death following out-of-hours versus in-hours discharge. Characteristics and outcomes for both groups were compared. 4678 patients were included. Patients discharged out-of-hours were older (62 vs 59 years, p?