Nearly 20% of Ontarians receiving maintenance dialysis are recent immigrants. Our previous population-based study showed that recent immigrants on maintenance dialysis are less likely than long-standing residents to receive physician-delivered palliative care during the last year of life. This disparity may, in part, reflect language discordance, as kidney care in Ontario is delivered primarily in English, while many recent immigrants originate from regions where English is not the primary language (sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America/the Caribbean, South Asia, East Asian/the Pacific).

Receiving care in a language other than one’s own has been associated with poorer health outcomes, yet the relationship between patient language and access to end-of-life palliative care among people receiving maintenance dialysis remains poorly understood. Using population-based health administrative databases, this study will examine the association between having a non-English primary language and receiving physician-delivered palliative care during the last year of life among Ontarians on maintenance dialysis.

By identifying potential linguistic disparities in access to palliative care, this study could inform strategies to promote language-concordant kidney care and lay the foundation for a broader patient-oriented research program aimed at improving end-of-life care for culturally and linguistically marginalized populations.