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It is not only the Mirror and similar ilk that reported "770 die a year because they’re born at the weekend". Even the BMJ's own news item has misunderstood Palmer et al's paper, writing "The researchers estimated that there were about 770 more newborn deaths and 470 more maternal infections per year than would be expected if performance was the same at the weekend as on a weekday." The 770 estimated extra deaths are in fact across the whole week compared with if mortality were always the same as on a Tuesday (the day with lowest mortality).
The meaning or value of this 770 figure is exceedingly dubious, but it certainly succeeds in sensationalising.
If the paper is so confusing that even the BMJ cannot understand it, surely this lends further support for calls for a publicised retraction of a paper whose conclusions bear such little relationship with its own data.
Competing interests:
No competing interests
28 November 2015
Bernard Freudenthal
Academic clinical fellow in endocrinology & diabetes mellitus
Imperial College London, Du Cane Road, London, W12 0NN
Even the BMJ has fallen for the "770 extra deaths" trap!
It is not only the Mirror and similar ilk that reported "770 die a year because they’re born at the weekend". Even the BMJ's own news item has misunderstood Palmer et al's paper, writing "The researchers estimated that there were about 770 more newborn deaths and 470 more maternal infections per year than would be expected if performance was the same at the weekend as on a weekday." The 770 estimated extra deaths are in fact across the whole week compared with if mortality were always the same as on a Tuesday (the day with lowest mortality).
The meaning or value of this 770 figure is exceedingly dubious, but it certainly succeeds in sensationalising.
If the paper is so confusing that even the BMJ cannot understand it, surely this lends further support for calls for a publicised retraction of a paper whose conclusions bear such little relationship with its own data.
Competing interests: No competing interests