Outcomes for Pacific and European patients admitted to New Zealand intensive care units from 2009 to 2018

Objective

To describe the characteristics and outcomes of Pacific and European patients admitted to New Zealand (NZ) intensive care units (ICUs) 2009–2018.

Design

Retrospective cohort study.

Setting and participants

The NZ Ministry of Health National Minimum Dataset and the Australia NZ Intensive Care Society Adult Patient Database were matched. Data were for ICU admissions in NZ hospitals from July 2009 until June 2018; long-term mortality outcomes were obtained from the NZ death registry until June 2020.

Main outcome measures

The primary outcome was day 180 mortality. Secondary outcomes were ICU mortality, hospital mortality, discharge to home, ICU and hospital length of stay, and survival. We evaluated the associations between Pacific ethnicity and outcomes with European as the reference using regression analyses. We adjusted sequentially for site, deprivation status, sex, year of admission, Charlson Comorbidity Index, age, admission source and type, ICU admission diagnosis, ventilation status, and illness severity.

Results

Pacific people had a median age of 14 years younger than Europeans. 644/4603 (14.0%) Pacific, and 6407/42,871 (14.9%) European patients died within 180 days of ICU admission; odds ratio (OR) 0.93; 95% CI, 0.85–1.01. When adjusting for age, the OR for day 180 mortality for Pacific vs. European patients increased. The OR decreased after adjustment for admission source and type, and after accounting for Pacific patients having a higher comorbidity index and more severe illness. In the final model, incorporating adjustments for all specified variables, Pacific ethnicity was not significantly associated with day 180 mortality (adjusted OR 0.91; 95% CI, 0.80–1.05). Findings were similar for secondary outcomes except for the proportion of patients discharged home; Pacific ethnicity was associated with significantly increased odds of being discharged home compared to European ethnicity.

Conclusions

Pacific ethnicity was not associated with increased day 180 mortality compared to European ethnicity; Pacific patients admitted to the ICU were more likely to be discharged home than European patients.