Comparison of Maori and European access to the Christchurch specialist diabetes complication screening clinic.
OBJECTIVE
To compare Maori and European utilisation of a specialist diabetes complication screening clinic.


METHODS
All subjects attending the Christchurch specialist diabetes complication screening clinic over a 16 month period were asked to complete a questionnaire, which included data on age, ethnicity and diabetes treatment. The frequency of clinic attendance by age and ethnic group was then compared to the number of people in the general population, in the clinic catchment area.


RESULTS
Of the 1356 subjects attending the complications screening clinic over the study period, 1347 completed the questionnaire. 1228 of the 1347 subjects (91.2%) were European and 84 (6.2%) were Maori. In the age range 45-64 years, Maori clinic attendance per 1000 general population was 25.6, compared to 7.57 per 1000 for Europeans. On a population basis, there were thus 3.4 times more Maori than Europeans attending the clinic. This figure is comparable with results from recent studies, which indicate that the prevalence of diabetes in this age range is about 3 to 5 times higher in Maori, compared to Europeans.


CONCLUSIONS
Although this study failed to demonstrate evidence of inequality of health care utilisation, quantitative measures of utilisation are but one dimension of access to health care. Another dimension of health care access discussed in this paper, is the differing health care needs of different ethnic groups.
Lunt
H
H
Lipid and Diabetes Research Group, Christchurch Hospital.
Brown
L J
LJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000188:drug therapy; D005060:Europe / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006268:Health Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007328:Insulin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence
D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D007328:Insulin