Covid 19 coronavirus: Maori are more likely to die from virus, new study finds

Maori are 50 percent more likely to die from Covid-19 than from Pākehā, a groundbreaking new study has found, with institutional racism partly to blame.

The researchers, including experts in sociology, statistics, physics and cultural history, linked existing demographic and health data for ethnic groups in New Zealand with international data from Covid-19 to arrive at the findings.

International data were used because the number of cases in New Zealand alone is too small to provide a sufficient sample size.

The alarming results, published today in the New Zealand Medical Journal, come as the current Auckland group disproportionately affects Pacific New Zealanders (over 60 percent of cases) and Maori (about 20 percent of cases). the cases).

Factors that researchers say may explain the difference in risk by ethnicity include:

• More Maori are living with multiple underlying health conditions (comorbidities) compared to New Zealand Europeans. Those with comorbidities are at a higher risk of dying from Covid-19.

• Maori and Pacific hospitalization and death rates from the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic were significantly higher than those for Europeans in New Zealand.

• Avoidable hospitalizations are higher for Maori and Pacific populations due to structural handicaps.

• Maori are at increased risk of exposure to the disease due to increased participation in high-risk occupations and environments and wider social networks.

Risk factors for accelerated transmission included overcrowded homes, affecting approximately 25% of Maori and 45% of the Pacific.

The rapid spread of Covid-19 “would place unprecedented stress on the healthcare system” and would almost certainly amplify existing racism, the researchers concluded.

Mike Plank, one of the authors of the article and a professor at the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Canterbury, said that abroad there were already horrible reports of doctors who were faced with the terrible decision of choosing which Covid-19 patient save.

“If a patient has a pre-existing health condition, then they are less likely to survive, so the doctor is more likely to prioritize the healthiest patient,” he said.

Plank said the worst health outcomes for Maori and Pacific people “stem from widespread inequalities in the health system and the ongoing impacts of systemic racism and colonization.”

Given the speed at which Covid-19 can spread, it was urgent to prepare health services and establish measures to protect groups at risk.

The researchers said that greater transparency was needed on the risk factors and weightings used to guide decision-making about health service delivery, and more work was needed to incorporate these findings into the Ministry’s disease transmission models. of Health that are used to inform Covid-19 response.

Data from New Zealand showed the level of pre-existing health conditions in Maori and international data revealed that pre-existing health conditions meant an increased risk of dying from Covid-19.

The researchers adjusted age-specific infection mortality rates (IFRs) from international data for differences in unmet health care needs and comorbidities by ethnicity.

They also altered the life expectancy rate for each ethnicity due to evidence that Covid-19 amplifies existing death rates.

The research comes as additional studies, conducted by independent researchers, have revealed significant ethnic disparities in our country across the board, including mental health, heart attacks, and prostate cancer.

READ MORE: The key issues behind racism within our healthcare system.

About the study authors:

• Professor Shaun Hendy is Director of Te Pūnaha Matatini, a research center focused on the study of complex networks and systems, based at the University of Auckland.

• Dr. Alex James and Nicholas Steyn also work for The Complex System.

• Tahu Kukutai specializes in research on indigenous and Maori populations. It is affiliated with the University of Waikato and the National Institute for Demographic and Economic Analysis.

• Melissa McLeod (Ngāi Tahu) is a public health physician and principal investigator with the Eru Pōmare Health Research Group, University of Otago, Wellington.

• Audrey Lustig and Rachelle Binny are affiliated with Landcare Research.

• Michael Plank is affiliated with the University of Canterbury and receives funding from Te Pūnaha Matatini.

• Andrew Sporle is affiliated with the Department of Statistics at the University of Auckland. He has more than two decades of experience in developing health and social research initiatives, as well as developing the Maori research workforce.

• Kannan Ridings is a researcher in the Department of Physics at the University of Auckland.