Non-native English speakers at greater odds to do repeat colonoscopy

Patients whose primary language is not English (NEPL) are more likely to have early repeat colonoscopy than those who are native English speakers (EPL), a study has found.

A team of investigators compared the rates of repeat colonoscopy ≤1 year between patients with NEPL and EPL using the TriNetX Research Network database. They used propensity score matching (PSM) to adjust for factors associated with inadequate bowel preparations.

Odds ratios (ORs) with 95 percent confidence intervals (CIs) were used to express the risk of repeat colonoscopy ≤1 year of baseline screening exam, colorectal polyps, and colorectal cancer (CRC) on repeat colonoscopy.

In total, 611,149 patients underwent screening colonoscopy (mean age 58.3 years, 63.6 percent White, 7.1 percent Hispanic). Of these, 31,118 were NEPL and 580,031 were EPL. After PSM, each cohort had 29,446 patients.

More NEPL patients tended to undergo repeat colonoscopy within 1 year relative to EPL counterparts (1.9 percent vs 1.3 percent; OR, 1.49, 95 percent CI, 1.30‒1.69). In the matched cohorts, the rate of polyp detection on repeat colonoscopy was comparable. However, NEPL patients were more likely to be diagnosed with CRC (0.8 percent vs 0.6 percent; OR, 1.4, 95 percent CI, 1.1‒1.7).

“Although colorectal polyps and CRC were infrequent in both groups, NEPL patients appeared to be at higher risk of CRC detection,” the investigators said. “Language-tailored interventions may improve bowel preparation quality and reduce repeat procedures.”