("I don't like Mondays" - day of the week of coronary heart disease deaths in Scotland: study of routinely collected data)
Monday is the day of the week which sees peak deaths from coronary heart disease in Scotland and this may be partly attributable to increased drinking at the weekend, say researchers from Edinburgh and Glasgow in this week's BMJ.
Dr Christine Evans from the Information and Statistics Division at the National Health Service in Scotland, along with colleagues from the same organisation and from the University of Glasgow, studied deaths from coronary heart disease in Scotland from 1986-95 and found that during this period 91,193 men and 79,051 women died from the disease. When the authors investigated which day of the week each death occurred on, they found an excess of deaths on a Monday in both men and women, but in particular among those who had not previously been admitted to hospital with the disease, and who had died outside hospital.
Within this group, Evans et al found that the Monday excess of deaths was greatest in those under the age of 50 years (deaths in men were 19.2 per cent above the daily average and women 20 per cent). Men under the age of 65 years also showed a highly significant excess of deaths on Saturday and Sunday. Tuesday seemed to be the day of week that saw the least deaths from coronary heart disease in both men and women.
The authors conclude that the Monday peak in deaths may be partly attributable to increased drinking at the weekend, although other mechanisms, such as work related stress, may also be important. "The possible link between binge drinking and deaths from coronary heart disease has potentially important public health implications and merits further investigation," say Evans et al.
Contact:
Dr James Chalmers, Consultant in Public Health Medicine, Information and Statistics Division, National Health Service in Scotland, Edinburgh
Email: Jim.Chalmers@isd.csa.scot.nhs.uk