For dementia patients who don’t speak English fluently, enrolling in clinical trials can be difficult if not impossible, according to a recent WBUR opinion piece.
In an October 12, 2018 article, writer Josh Eibelman detailed the barriers he encountered while trying to enroll his Ukraine-born grandmother in a clinical trial in the Boston area for neurostimulation to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Eibelman was told that his grandmother would not be eligible to participate because “she does not comprehend written and spoken English” and that the study “is not approved by the hospital to use a medical interpreter.”
Benjamin Sommers, associate professor of health policy and economics at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told Eibelman that the language barrier is a “real issue for mental health disparities,” affecting Alzheimer’s patients as well as those with other mental health problems. Sommers recalled a similar experience when he attempted to arrange neuropsychological testing for a Spanish-speaking patient who did not speak English fluently.
“It’s very hard to find a hospital in the [Boston] area that does Spanish-language dementia testing,” Sommers said. “There are months-long waiting times — sometimes up to six months. And sometimes such testing is not available at all.”
Read the WBUR article: Language Barrier Means Millions Of Elderly — Like My Grandmother — Lack Access To Alzheimer’s Trials