title: Heart failure: ethnic disparities in morbidity and mortality in New Zealand.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare heart failure outcomes for Mäori and non-Mäori New Zealanders.
  
  
  METHODS
  Restrospective analysis of New Zealand mortality (1988-97) and hospital admissions (1989-98) due to heart failure for Mäori and non-Mäori, aged 45 years and over.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mortality from heart failure was more than 8.8 times higher among Mäori males aged 45-64 years than non-Mäori (95% confidence interval 7.6 to 10.1), and 3.5 (3.1 to 4.1) times higher among Mäori aged 65 years and over. Mortality ratios for females were similar. Hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis of heart failure averaged eight times higher among Mäori males aged 45-64 and nine times higher among Mäori females compared to non-Mäori. Mäori males and females aged 65 years and over had three and four times the non-Mäori rate of admission.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Disparities between Mäori and non-Mäori in outcomes for heart failure are high in New Zealand. Effective, evidence-based interventions have not yet impacted on populations most 'at risk'.
authors.affiliation: Te Röpü Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pömare, Wellington School of Medicine, University of Otago. haoura@wnmeds.ac.nz
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Carr
authors.forename: Bridget
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Robson
authors.forename: Papaarangi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Purdie
authors.forename: Pori
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Workman
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000401:mortality*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D044465:White People