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Diabetes Among Māori and Other Ethnic Groups in New Zealand

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Diabetes Mellitus in Developing Countries and Underserved Communities

Abstract

The population of Aotearoa, New Zealand, has changed significantly since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between the indigenous people, Māori, and the British Crown in 1840. Several waves of immigration by Polynesians from various Pacific Islands since the 1960s and from Asia since the 1980s, along with migration by Māori into cities, have exposed these populations to Westernisation with resultant increases in obesity and type 2 diabetes. Since the early studies in the 1960s, Māori and Pacific peoples have been shown to experience two- to fourfold rates of type 2 diabetes as European New Zealanders, an excess now shown in Asian New Zealanders. Overall, Māori and the Pacific people have poorer blood glucose, blood pressure and blood lipid control with their diabetes. Associated with these are substantially higher rates of end-stage renal disease (with, e.g. up to 25-fold need renal replacement therapy among Māori), diabetic eye disease (including blindness), amputation and cardiovascular disease. Significant investment is clearly required into well-organised approaches that will reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes, improve metabolic control and reduce the very high rates of diabetes complications that are now being seen.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, NSW, Australia

    Evan Atlantis PhD

  2. Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Grace Joshy PhD

  3. Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand

    Margaret Williams PhD

  4. School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, NSW 2751, Australia

    David Simmons FRACP, FRCP, MD

Authors
  1. Evan Atlantis PhD
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  2. Grace Joshy PhD
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  3. Margaret Williams PhD
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  4. David Simmons FRACP, FRCP, MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Simmons FRACP, FRCP, MD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

    Sam Dagogo-Jack

Appendix: Database Searching Strategies

Appendix: Database Searching Strategies

Search Outline

Concept

Search terms

Diabetes

Diabetes mellitus, type 1

Diabetes, gestational

Diabetes mellitus, type 2

Diabetes mellitus

New Zealand

New Zealand

Native and unserved ethnic groups

Pacific Islander

 Māori

 Samoa

 Cook Islands

 Polynesia (MESH)

 Tonga

 Fiji

 Niue

 Solomon Islands

 Melanesia (MESH)

 Oceanic Ancestry Group (MESH)

Southeast Asian

 Bangladesh

 India

 Sri Lanka

 Nepal

Medline Search -8/10/15

1

Diabetes mellitus, type 1 or diabetes, gestational/ or diabetes mellitus, type 2 or diabetes mellitus

158,509

2

Diabetes.ab,ti.

243,850

3

1 or 2

274,256

4

New Zealand

20,180

5

New Zealand.ab,ti.

26,249

6

4 or 5

35,119

7

‘Pacific Islander’.ab, ti.

1069

8

Māori.ab, ti.

1680

9

Samoa

220

10

Polynesia

695

11

‘Cook Islands’.ab, ti.

88

12

Tonga

141

13

Fiji

437

14

Niue.ab, ti.

26

15

Melanesia

357

16

Solomon Islands.ab, ti.

282

17

Oceanic Ancestry Group

5709

18

Bangladesh

5328

19

India

50,204

20

Sri Lanka

2620

21

Nepal

4202

22

7 or 8 or 9 or 10 or 11 or 12 or 13 or 14 or 15 or 16 or 17 or 18 or 19 or 20 or 21

70,730

23

3 and 6 and 22

220

24

Limit 23 to yr = ’2005 -Current’

156

  1. NB: search terms with/are MESH terms

Scopus Search

TITLE-ABS-KEY (‘diabetes’) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY (‘New Zealand’) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY (‘Pacific Islander’ OR ‘Māori’ OR ‘Samoa’ OR ‘Cook Islands’ OR ‘Polynesia’ OR ‘Tonga’ OR ‘Fiji’ OR ‘Niue’ OR ‘Solomon Islands’ OR ‘Melanesia’ OR ‘Ocean Ancestry Group’ OR ‘Southeast Asian’ OR ‘Bangladesh’ OR ‘India’ OR ‘Sri Lanka’ OR ‘Nepal’) AND PUBYEAR > 2004 AND NOT ALL (‘trials’) OR (‘RCT’) OR ALL (‘intervention’)

Total results: 98

Search date: 12/10/2015

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Atlantis, E., Joshy, G., Williams, M., Simmons, D. (2017). Diabetes Among Māori and Other Ethnic Groups in New Zealand. In: Dagogo-Jack, S. (eds) Diabetes Mellitus in Developing Countries and Underserved Communities. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41559-8_10

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