Patient–Primary Care Provider Language Concordance Tied to Better Outcomes

TUESDAY, July 2, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Patient-family physician language concordance is associated with a lower risk for adverse outcomes, according to a study published online June 3 in BMJ Public Health.

Michael Reaume, M.D., from the University of Manitoba Max Rady College of Medicine in Winnipeg, Canada, and colleagues used data from 497,227 home care recipients to examine whether patient-family physician language concordance in a primary care setting is associated with lower rates of hospital-based health care utilization and mortality.

The researchers found that those who received language-concordant primary care experienced significantly fewer emergency department visits (53.1 versus 57.5 percent), fewer hospitalizations (35.0 versus 37.6 percent), and lower mortality (14.4 versus 16.6 percent) compared with non-English, non-French speakers who received language-discordant primary care. Non-English, non-French speakers had lower risks for emergency department visits (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.91), hospitalizations (aHR, 0.94), and death (aHR, 0.87) when they received language-concordant primary care. Language of family physician did not impact the risk for experiencing an emergency department visit, hospitalization, or death for francophones.

“Optimizing the delivery of language-concordant care could potentially result in significant decreases in the use of acute health care services and mortality at the population level,” the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text