Open AccessFeasibility of including patients with migration background in a structured heart failure management programme: A prospective case-control study exemplarily on Turkish migrants
Author(s) -
Roman Pfister,
Peter Ihle,
Birgit Mews,
Elisabeth Kohnen,
Marcus Wähner,
Ute Karbach,
Hasan Aslan,
H. W. Höpp,
Christian A. Schneider
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0187358
Subject(s) - turkish , german , medicine , heart failure , phone , informed consent , inclusion (mineral) , prospective cohort study , pediatrics , family medicine , psychology , alternative medicine , geography , social psychology , philosophy , linguistics , archaeology , pathology
Aims Structured management programmes deliver optimized care in heart failure patients and improve outcome. We examined the feasibility of including patients with migration background speaking little or no German in a heart failure management programme. Methods and results After adaption of script material and staff to Turkish language we aimed to recruit 300 Turkish and 300 German (control group) patients within 18 months using the operational basis of a local heart failure management programme for screening, contact and inclusion. Of 488 and 1,055 eligible Turkish and German patients identified through screening, 165 Turkish (34%) and 335 German (32%) patients consented on participation (p = 0.46). General practitioners contributed significantly more of the Turkish (84%) than of the German patients (16%, p<0.001). Contact attempts by programme staff were significantly less successful in Turkish (52%) than in German patients (60%, p = 0.005) due to significantly higher rate of missing phone numbers (36% vs 25%), invalid address data (28% vs 7%) and being unreachable by phone more frequently (39% vs 26%, all p<0.001). Consent rate was significantly higher in successfully contacted Turkish (63%) compared to German patients (50%, p<0.001). Conclusion The inclusion of Turkish minority patients into a heart failure management programme is feasible with higher consent rate than in Germans. However, effort is high due to inherent logistic adaptions and barriers in identification and contacting of patients. Trial registration DRKS00007780