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ED volume not linked to mortality

The association of annual and daily volume with in-hospital mortality in Dutch and Danish Emergency Departments
Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine · Added 8 September 2026

Cohort of 724,256 ED presentations across Dutch and Danish hospitals — annual ED volume had no association with in-hospital mortality, while mortality was lower on busier days, driven by excess deaths on quiet ones.

Study type

Cohort

Design

Retrospective international multicentre cohort with mixed-effects logistic regression

Participants

724,256 ED visits (486,558 Dutch, 237,698 Danish) across 12 EDs

Main finding

Annual ED volume showed no association with in-hospital mortality; busier relative daily volume was associated with lower mortality in the Netherlands (e.g. dyspnoea AOR 0.89, 95% CI 0.86-0.92), driven by excess deaths on low-volume days

Caveat

Only 12 EDs in two European countries; adjusted observational associations cannot establish causation

Bottom line

Context only

Learning goal

Understand how emergency department volume and workload may influence patient outcomes when receiving my patients.

More

• Topic: Operations & systems
• Daily scan: 8 September 2026

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