Language-Based Disparities in Route of Hysterectomy for Benign Disease

Study Objective

To assess the association between patient primary language and route of hysterectomy.

Design

A retrospective cohort study was conducted using the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project's State Inpatient Database (SID) and State Ambulatory Surgery and Services Database (SASD).

Setting

All inpatient and outpatient hysterectomies from the most recent year of available data (2020–2021) from the six states that record patient primary language in the SID and SASD (Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, and New Jersey) were queried.

Patients or Participants

Patients aged 18 and over undergoing an inpatient or ambulatory hysterectomy for benign indication.

Interventions

Minimally invasive hysterectomy compared to abdominal hysterectomy.

Measurement and Main Results

The association between patient primary language (English vs. non-English) and route of hysterectomy (abdominal vs minimally invasive) was evaluated. The cohort included 52,226 patients who met inclusion criteria. The majority of patients were non-Hispanic White (71%), with a median age of 46 years (IQR 40.0–53.0). 91.4% of patients spoke English as their primary language, 3.6% spoke Spanish, and 5.0% spoke another non-English language. Patients with a non-English primary language were significantly less likely to undergo minimally invasive hysterectomy compared to patients who spoke English (OR 0.60, 95% CI 0.56–0.64, p <.001). This association remained significant following adjustments for age, race, insurance, median income, state, and fibroid, abnormal uterine bleeding, prolapse or endometriosis diagnosis (aOR 0.77, 95% CI 0.71–0.84). In a sensitivity analysis of English vs Spanish vs other non-English language, the association remained significant for other non-English languages (aOR 0.67, 95% CI 0.60–0.75) but not for Spanish (aOR 0.95, 95% CI 0.83–1.09).

Conclusion

Patients who are non-English speaking are significantly less likely to receive a minimally invasive hysterectomy. Addressing language disparities may improve access to a minimally invasive route of surgery, a possible surrogate for improved surgical outcomes, for our gynecologic patients.