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FRIDAY, Sept. 25, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Non-English speakers are less likely to have completed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) testing and have a higher proportion of positive tests compared with English speakers, according to a research letter published online Sept. 24 in JAMA Network Open<\/i>.<\/p>\n
H. Nina Kim, M.D., from the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, and colleagues examined the proportion of patients who completed SARS-CoV-2 testing and the proportion of positive cases among immigrants using language as a surrogate for immigrant status. Data were included for 562,242 patients who had at least one encounter in the University of Washington Medicine system.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that 30,925 patients (5.5 percent) underwent SARS-CoV-2 testing. Of these, 6.0 percent were non-English speakers and they were less likely overall to have completed testing compared with English speakers (4.7 versus 5.6 percent); there was variation across language groups. The proportion of positive cases was higher among non-English speakers overall than among English speakers (18.6 versus 4.0 percent). This excess risk was seen across multiple languages and in the three largest non-English-speaking groups (Spanish, Vietnamese, and Amharic).<\/p>\n
“Our study found that despite the availability of interpreter services across clinical locations, non-English-speaking patients in our health system were tested less frequently for COVID-19 and had [a] significantly higher burden of infection,” the authors write.<\/p>\n