Doctors speaking the patient's language linked to lower cardiovascular disease risk

A positive patient-doctor relationship is an ingredient to a healthy life, and new research has zeroed in on the impact common language in the relationship can have by decreasing cardiovascular disease for the benefit of a longer life.

A retrospective cohort study from researchers at the University of Ottawa and the University of Manitoba has found Canadians living with hypertension whose preferred language is not English or French were 36 percent less likely to have a major adverse cardiovascular event, defined as heart attack, heart failure, or stroke if they received care from a doctor who spoke their language. Patients who received care from a doctor who spoke their language were 28 percent less likely to die when compared to patients who received care from a doctor who did not speak their language.

Critical information

Michael Reaume, a resident in the Faculty of Medicine's Department of Nephrology, led the study that included 124,583 respondents who spoke nearly 100 different languages.

If there was a new medication that decreased the risk of major adverse cardiovascular event by 36 percent or all-cause mortality by 28 percent, this medication would immediately be offered to our patients. We need to start thinking about language barriers in our healthcare systems in a similar way.

This starts by collecting preferred language for all patients systematically. This information is critical as it allows us to match patients to healthcare providers who have proficiency in their preferred language, while also identifying patients who would benefit from professional interpretation services."

Michael Reaume, resident in the Faculty of Medicine's Department of Nephrology, University of Ottawa

Proposed recommendations

• Optimizing delivery of language-concordant care could result in significant decreases in cardiovascular outcomes and improved population care.
• Advocating for equitable access to medical education for minority language communities to ensure linguistic diversity of healthcare providers matches patients in their community.
• The language(s) spoken by patients and healthcare providers should be collected so healthcare systems can implement strategies to match patients to healthcare providers who have proficiency in their preferred language.