Heart failure: ethnic disparities in morbidity and mortality in New Zealand.
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'.
Carr
Julia
J
Te Röpü Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pömare, Wellington School of Medicine, University of Otago. haoura@wnmeds.ac.nz
Robson
Bridget
B
Reid
Papaarangi
P
Purdie
Gordon
G
Workman
Pori
P
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