NEW ZEALAND MEDICAL JOURNAL最新文献

Women with an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in Aotearoa New Zealand experience inequity at every stage of diagnosis and management. We currently treat women too late in their disease course, where increased age, comorbidities, larger AAA diameter, preventable ruptures, loss of eligibility for simple endovascular repair (EVAR) and clinical "turn down for surgery" rates all add to higher AAA mortality. There is scope for great improvements in cardiovascular risk reduction for people living with a small AAA and for considering the inclusion of women in proposals for an AAA screening programme.

Aims: Despite dramatic declines in coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence in Aotearoa New Zealand over more than 50 years, the burden of CHD is still inequitable, particularly for Māori and Pacific peoples. We studied recent trends in first hospitalisations for acute coronary syndromes (ACS) by ethnicity.

Methods: All first ACS hospitalisations (2005-2019) were identified from national administrative datasets. Population denominators were constructed using multiple linked national data sources. Trends in rates of incident ACS and incidence rate ratios (IRRs) were analysed for younger (20-59 years) and older (60-84 years) patients.

Results: The ACS cohort (n=69,161) comprised 74.7% European, 14.2% Māori, 6.1% Pacific peoples, 2.8% Indian and 2.2% non-Indian Asian peoples. For younger patients, annual ACS incidence initially decreased in all ethnic groups but plateaued between 2013 and 2015 for Māori, non-Indian Asians and Europeans; the decline was minimal for Pacific peoples across the time period. In older patients ACS incidence initially fell for all groups, but plateaued for Māori from 2015, and slowed after 2014 for Europeans. IRRs, compared with Europeans, increased between 2005 and 2019 for younger Māori (IRR 1.5 to 2.25, p=0.017) and Pacific peoples (IRR 1.25 to 1.5, p<0.001), and for older Māori (IRR 1.35 to 1.6, p=0.006) and Pacific peoples (IRR 1.0 to 1.6, p<0.001).

Conclusion: Rates of decline in ACS incidence have stalled or slowed for most younger ethnic groups, and for older Māori and Europeans. The differential rate of change between ethnic groups has resulted in increasing inequity for Māori and Pacific peoples across the age range.

Aims: For over a decade, New Zealand pursued a comprehensive reform of its outdated medicines legislation, culminating in the passage of the Therapeutic Products Act 2023 (TPA) in 2023. In a policy reversal, the Act was repealed by a new government in 2024. This study provides an analysis of this policy cycle to understand the drivers of the reform, its subsequent repeal and the implications for future health policy. We take a political economy perspective, foregrounding health policy instability and its consequences for patients, clinicians and Māori health interests.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative documentary policy analysis of 25 key government and stakeholder documents, including legislation, regulations, cabinet papers and select committee reports with their submissions. We employed a framework method for a systematic thematic analysis of the corpus to map and interpret the policy narratives.

Results: The impetus for the TPA was a consensus that the Medicines Act 1981 and its associated regulations from 1984 and 1985 were "no longer fit for purpose". The repeal was driven by an ideological shift, reframing the TPA as an unacceptable "regulatory burden". This has tangible consequences, including the loss of a pre-market approval framework for medical devices and the erasure of legislative provisions designed to protect and recognise Rongoā Māori (traditional Māori healing).

Conclusion: The TPA policy cycle is a case study in the fragility of evidence-based health reform. It demonstrates that without a durable, cross-party political consensus, long-term policy projects are highly vulnerable to being dismantled by short-term shifts in political ideology, with downstream harms from regulatory instability. It also illustrates how a targeted "micro‑reform" can generate outsized system‑level consequences.

Aim: To quantify the current state of the cardiology specialist workforce in Health New Zealand - Te Whatu Ora.

Methods: The Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand sent a survey to all Health New Zealand - Te Whatu Ora cardiology departments in 2024, requesting information on specialist cardiac staff. Population information was obtained from Health New Zealand - Te Whatu Ora. International comparisons were obtained by website search.

Results: Of 154 Health New Zealand - Te Whatu Ora-employed cardiologists, 119 (77%) were male, and 113 (73%) received cardiology training in New Zealand. Over half were aged >50, 35% >55, including 18% >60 years. Time in current position was 12±9 years and the vacancy rate was 14%. The current ratio of persons per cardiologist is 35,000. In the five districts with the highest proportion of Māori and Pacific peoples, this ratio exceeds the national average: Tairāwhiti 54,000; Counties Manukau 38,000; Lakes 61,000; Northland 52,000; Hawke's Bay 47,000. For cities with cardiac surgery the ratio is 32,000 and without is 46,000. International ratios include: United States of America (USA) 15,000; Canada 25,000; United Kingdom (UK) 40,000 and Australia 25,000 persons per cardiologist.

Conclusions: Health New Zealand - Te Whatu Ora has an experienced but ageing cardiologist workforce, with many vacancies. Districts with higher Māori/Pacific populations have fewer cardiologists per capita than the national average of 1:35,000, which is similar to the UK, but less than the USA, Australia and Canada.