Eric M. Cheng|Alex Chen|William E. Cunningham
Primary Language and Receipt of Recommended Health Care Among Hispanics in the United States
VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System|University of Southern California|University of California, Los Angeles
disparities health care services hispanics whites united states well documentedthe objective study determine whether language spoken home identifies hispanics risk receiving recommended health care servicesthe design study crosssectional nationally representative survey householdsthe patients nonhispanic white hispanic adults participating 2003 medical expenditure panel surveywe compared receipt ten recommended health care services ethnicity primary language adjusting demographic socioeconomic characteristics health status access carethe sample included 12706 whites 5500 hispanics bivariate comparisons 570 whites received eligible health care services compared 536 hispanics spoke english home 449 hispanics speak english home comfortable speaking english 350 hispanics speak english home uncomfortable speaking english p 001 multivariate logistic models compared nonhispanic whites hispanics speak english home less likely receive eligible health care services whether comfortable speaking english risk ratio rr 088 95 confidence interval ci 074097 rr 084 95 ci 068095speaking language english home identified hispanics risk receiving recommended health care services whether comfortable speaking english identifying mechanism disparities language usage may lead interventions reduce ethnic disparities