Limited English Proficiency and Sepsis Mortality by Race and Ethnicity

Patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) face multiple barriers and are at risk for worse health outcomes compared with patients with English proficiency (EP). In sepsis, a major cause of mortality in the US, the association of LEP with health outcomes is not widely explored.

To assess the association between LEP and inpatient mortality among patients with sepsis and test the hypothesis that LEP would be associated with higher mortality rates.

This retrospective cohort study of hospitalized patients with sepsis included those who met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's sepsis criteria, received antibiotics within 24 hours, and were admitted through the emergency department. Data were collected from the electronic medical records of a large New England tertiary care center from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2019. Data were analyzed from January 8, 2021, to March 2, 2023.

Limited English proficiency, gathered via self-reported language preference in electronic medical records.

The primary outcome was inpatient mortality. The analysis used multivariable generalized estimating equation models with propensity score adjustment and analysis of covariance to analyze the association between LEP and inpatient mortality due to sepsis.

A total of 2709 patients met the inclusion criteria, with a mean (SD) age of 65.0 (16.2) years; 1523 (56.2%) were men and 327 (12.1%) had LEP. Nine patients (0.3%) were American Indian or Alaska Native, 101 (3.7%) were Asian, 314 (11.6%) were Black, 226 (8.3%) were Hispanic, 38 (1.4%) were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander or of other race or ethnicity, 1968 (72.6%) were White, and 6 (0.2%) were multiracial. Unadjusted mortality included 466 of 2382 patients with EP (19.6%) and 69 of 327 with LEP (21.1%). No significant difference was found in mortality odds for the LEP compared with EP groups (odds ratio [OR], 1.12 [95% CI, 0.88-1.42]). When stratified by race and ethnicity, odds of inpatient mortality for patients with LEP were significantly higher among the non-Hispanic White subgroup (OR, 1.76 [95% CI, 1.41-2.21]). This significant difference was also present in adjusted analyses (adjusted OR, 1.56 [95% CI, 1.02-2.39]). No significant differences were found in inpatient mortality between LEP and EP in the racial and ethnic minority subgroup (OR, 0.99 [95% CI, 0.63-1.58]; adjusted OR, 0.91 [95% CI, 0.56-1.48]).

In a large diverse academic medical center, LEP had no significant association overall with sepsis mortality. In a subgroup analysis, LEP was associated with increased mortality among individuals identifying as non-Hispanic White. This finding highlights a potential language-based inequity in sepsis care. Further studies are needed to understand drivers of this inequity, how it may manifest in other diverse health systems, and to inform equitable care models for patients with LEP.