Impact of limited English proficiency on presentation and outcomes of patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention for ST-elevation myocardial infarction

Sinjini Biswas; Michael Seman; Nicholas Cox; Christopher Neil; Angela Brennan; Diem Dinh; Antony Walton; William Chan; Jeffrey Lefkovits; Christopher Reid; Dion Stub

doi:10.1111/imj.13751

Impact of limited English proficiency on presentation and outcomes of patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention for ST-elevation myocardial infarction

Intern Med J. 2018 Apr;48(4):457-461. doi: 10.1111/imj.13751.

Authors

Sinjini Biswas^{1

2

3}, Michael Seman¹, Nicholas Cox^{1

4}, Christopher Neil¹, Angela Brennan², Diem Dinh², Antony Walton^{1

3}, William Chan^{1

3}, Jeffrey Lefkovits^{2

5}, Christopher Reid^{2

6}, Dion Stub^{1

2

3

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiology, Western Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
² Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
³ Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁴ Department of Medicine - Western Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁵ Department of Cardiology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁶ NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Cardiovascular Outcomes Improvement, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
⁷ Cardiac Arrest Research Group, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

PMID: 29623980
DOI: 10.1111/imj.13751

Abstract

Doctor-patient language discordance has been shown to lead to worse clinical outcomes. In this study of patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention for ST-elevation myocardial infarction at an Australian health service, we demonstrated that limited English proficiency (LEP) is an independent predictor of prolonged symptom-to-door time, but does not lead to worse 30-day mortality compared with English-proficient patients. More effort needs to be placed in providing public health education in varied languages to encourage early presentation to hospital for patients with LEP.

Keywords: English proficiency; acute myocardial infarction; percutaneous coronary intervention.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Cohort Studies
Electrocardiography / trends
Female
Health Literacy / trends*
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Multilingualism*
Percutaneous Coronary Intervention / trends*
ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction / diagnosis*
ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction / surgery*
Time-to-Treatment / trends*
Treatment Outcome