title: Obtaining information on language preference among newly diagnosed Hispanic and Asian American cancer patients in Connecticut.
abstract: Information on primary or preferred language in hospital records of the growing numbers of newly diagnosed Hispanic and Asian American cancer patients could be useful in studies of quality of cancer care and prognosis. Using the statewide Connecticut cancer registry and medical records at acute-care hospitals in Connecticut, only 9.7% of 992 Hispanic or Asian American patients had no information on language preference. Information on use of an interpreter was missing for 36.1% of 653 probable non-English-preferring patients. Missing information was more frequent in Asian than Hispanic American patients. The potential for adding this information to national databases should be explored.
authors.affiliation: Connecticut Tumor Registry, Connecticut Department of Public Health, 410 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT 06134-0308, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Polednak
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001213:Asian; D002648:Child; D003237:Connecticut; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D057240:Patient Preference; D012042:Registries; D055815:Young Adult