ArticleAnnals of emergency medicine2016
The Association Between Limited English Proficiency and Unplanned Emergency Department Revisit Within 72 Hours.
Article in Annals of emergency medicine, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 72 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
72 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Prevalence of Professional Interpreter Use in Emergency Departments: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Association between language discordance and unplanned hospital readmissions or emergency department revisits: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ quality & safety · 2024Pooled it
- Limited English Proficiency and Clinical Outcomes After Hospital-Based Care in English-Speaking Countries: a Systematic Review.Journal of general internal medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Access to Translator (AT&T) project: Interpreter on Wheels during the COVID-19 pandemic.BMJ open quality · 2021Trial
- Regarding Racial Disparities in Door-to-Clinician Time for Cardiac Chest Pain in the Emergency Department.The western journal of emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Patient and Caregiver Perspectives on Language Access in Two St. Louis Emergency Departments.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2026Article
- Acute-Care Utilization and Cost Offsets Associated With Language-Concordant, Pharmacist-Integrated Care Management Among High-Need, High-Cost Adults.Health services research · 2026Article
- Gaps in Documenting Interpreter Service Utilization Among Emergency Department Clinicians Treating Patients With Limited English Proficiency.Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine · 2026Article
- Article
- Assessment of Artificial Intelligence-based Translation Tools for Emergency Department Discharge Instructions.The western journal of emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Quantitative resource utilisation of patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) at a community hospital emergency department (ED) observational controlled study (LEP-ED2 study).BMJ open quality · 2026Observational
- Evaluating professional interpreting services for patients with limited English proficiency in secondary care settings: a scoping review.BMJ open quality · 2025Article
- Increased Time to Provider for Patients With a Non-English Language Preference: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2025Article
- Outcomes After Heart Transplantation Among Non-Native English-Speaking Recipients.Journal of cardiac failure · 2025Article
- Monitoring Use of Language Interpreting Services for Patients with Limited English Proficiency: Methods to Match Patient Medical Records with Interpreter Billing Logs.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
- Evaluation of Disparities in Emergency Department Admission and Wait Times for Non-English Preferred Patients.The western journal of emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Assessing artificial intelligence-generated patient discharge information for the emergency department: a pilot study.International journal of emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Predicting high-risk return at emergency department presentation for patients who undergo short-term revisits: the HANDLE-24 score.BMC emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Nursing perspectives on advancing language access in the emergency department: A qualitative study.PloS one · 2025Article
- Unveiling the gaps: A comprehensive, equity-focused observational examination of Emergency Department discharge.PloS one · 2025Observational
12 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
STUDY
objectiveLanguage barriers are known to negatively affect many health outcomes among limited English proficiency patient populations, but little is known about the quality of care such patients receive in the emergency department (ED). This study seeks to determine whether limited English proficiency patients experience different quality of care than English-speaking patients in the ED, using unplanned revisit within 72 hours as a surrogate quality indicator.
methodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study in an urban adult ED in 2012, with a total of 41,772 patients and 56,821 ED visits. We compared 2,943 limited English proficiency patients with 38,829 English-speaking patients presenting to the ED after excluding patients with psychiatric complaints, altered mental status, and nonverbal states, and those with more than 4 ED visits in 12 months. Two main outcomes-the risk of inpatient admission from the ED and risk of unplanned ED revisit within 72 hours-were measured with odds ratios from generalized estimating equation multivariate models.
resultsLimited English proficiency patients were more likely than English speakers to be admitted (32.0% versus 27.2%; odds ratio [OR]=1.20; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.11 to 1.30). This association became nonsignificant after adjustments (OR=1.04; 95% CI 0.95 to 1.15). Included in the analysis of ED revisit within 72 hours were 32,857 patients with 45,546 ED visits; 4.2% of all patients (n=1,380) had at least 1 unplanned revisit. Limited English proficiency patients were more likely than English speakers to have an unplanned revisit (5.0% versus 4.1%; OR=1.19; 95% CI 1.02 to 1.45). This association persisted (OR=1.24; 95% CI 1.02 to 1.53) after adjustment for potential confounders, including insurance status.
conclusionWe found no difference in hospital admission rates between limited English proficiency patients and English-speaking patients. Yet limited English proficiency patients were 24% more likely to have an unplanned ED revisit within 72 hours, with an absolute difference of 0.9%, suggesting challenges in ED quality of care.
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Registered trials
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