Preferred Language Mediates Association Between Race, Ethnicity, and Delayed Presentation in Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19.

Which social factors explain racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 access to care and outcomes remain unclear.

objectivesWe hypothesized that preferred language mediates the association between race, ethnicity and delays to care. DESIGN SETTING AND

participantsMulticenter, retrospective cohort study of adults with COVID-19 consecutively admitted to the ICU in three Massachusetts hospitals in 2020. MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURES: Causal mediation analysis was performed to evaluate potential mediators including preferred language, insurance status, and neighborhood characteristics.

resultsNon-Hispanic White (NHW) patients (157/442, 36%) were more likely to speak English as their preferred language (78% vs. 13%), were less likely to be un- or under-insured (1% vs. 28%), lived in neighborhoods with lower social vulnerability index (SVI) than patients from racial and ethnic minority groups (SVI percentile 59 [28] vs. 74 [21]) but had more comorbidities (Charlson comorbidity index 4.6 [2.5] vs. 3.0 [2.5]), and were older (70 [13.2] vs. 58 [15.1] years). From symptom onset, NHW patients were admitted 1.67 [0.71-2.63] days earlier than patients from racial and ethnic minority groups ( CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Preferred language mediates the association between race, ethnicity and delays to presentation for critically ill patients with COVID-19, although our results are limited by possible collider stratification bias. Effective COVID-19 treatments require early diagnosis, and delays are associated with increased mortality. Further research on the role preferred language plays in racial and ethnic disparities may identify effective solutions for equitable care.