Photo Credit: xavierarnau
The following is a summary of “Role of Language in Hospital Admissions: The COVID-19 Experience in a Safety-Net Hospital Emergency Department,” published in the December 2024 issue of Emergency Medicine by Bacon et al.
Emergency departments (EDs) were often the first point of contact for patients with the healthcare system, and race, ethnicity, and language influenced factors leading to ED visits and patient experiences, with limited evidence on how these factors interacted, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when EDs were under significant strain.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to examine the association of race, ethnicity, and preferred language with hospital admissions from the ED for patients with COVID-19 in an urban, safety-net hospital during the first year of the pandemic before vaccines were widely available.
They performed a nested regression analysis using generalized estimating equation (GEE) logit models to assess the effect of language, race, and ethnicity on hospital admissions, adjusting for other health conditions and healthcare utilization.
The results showed that Spanish-speaking Latino patients had 72% higher odds (95% CI: 1.34–2.2) of hospital admission compared to White patients who spoke English. Additionally, Asian patients, most of whom spoke languages other than English, had 130% higher odds (95% CI: 1.39–3.92) of hospital admission compared to White English-speaking patients.
Investigators concluded the multiple factors influenced hospital admissions for racially and ethnically minoritized patients who spoke Spanish, with providers potentially admitting patients as a precaution rather than due to more advanced illness.
Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0736467924001938
