Limited English proficiency and Latinos' use of physician services

Many Latinos have limited English proficiency and this may negatively affec t their use of health care services. To examine this, the authors interview ed 465 Spanish-speaking Latinos and 259 English speakers of various ethnici ties who presented to a public hospital emergency department with nonurgent medical problems to assess previous physician visits, sociodemographic cha racteristics, and level of English proficiency. The proportion of patients who reported no physician visit during the 3 months before study enrollment was not related to English proficiency. However, among the 414 patients wh o saw a physician at least once, Latinos with fair and poor English profici ency reported approximately 22 percent fewer physician visits (p = 0.020 an d p = 0.015, respectively) than non-Latinos whose native language was Engli sh, even after adjusting for other determinants of physician visits. The ma gnitude of the association between limited English proficiency and number o f physician visits was similar to that for having poor health, no health in surance, or no regular source of care.