Pharmaceutical use
Pharmaceutical Use for Māori compared with New Zealand European Populations
The following graphs provide an overview of the top medications dispensed by volume, medication category and population dispensing rate for the 2006/07 financial year in the Māori and NZ European populations. They derive from a draft analysis undertaken by PHARMAC staff in 2007, available on request from PHARMAC (including full tabular data).
The data take into account both (1) age differences within each ethnic group (direct age standardisation using broad age-groups – to more validly separate the effects of age on prescription patterns) and (2) indicators of health need (approximated using prevalence, incidence and mortality data for the year 1996 synthesised and reported by the NZ Burden of Disease Study (NZBDS) data – to account for differences in morbidity and mortality).
The following patterns provide an overview in terms of medication use and highlight differences in dispensing patterns for specific medication groups. Such information can be used to monitor changes in uptake of medications by therapeutic group and volumes dispensed for Māori and other ethnic populations.
Figure 1: Top TG2-level Prescriptions for NZ European and Māori Population Groups, 2006/07
Figure 1 shows the top medications (by second level therapeutic groups) dispensed by volume for New Zealand European and Māori populations. Information was obtained from Pharmhouse data for 2006/07, indicating the extent of disparity in rates of use occurring across most groups.
Under the particular classification system used (TG2-level), antibacterials are the type of medicine prescribed most to Māori, and at rates substantially higher than non-Māori. This pattern of higher use in Māori (after adjustment for age) persists across most TG2 level groups. Variation can however be considerable; after adjusting for age, Māori for example are 75% less likely to be dispensed medication for acne and 42% less likely to be dispensed antidepressants than NZ Europeans, but are 4 times more likely to be dispensed gout (Glossary description: Gout is a disease hallmarked by elevated levels of uric acid in the bloodstream. In this condition, crystals of monosodium urate or uric acid are deposited on the articular cartilage of joints, tendons and surrounding tissues.Related terms:Arthritis) medicines and 2½ times more likely to be prescribed diabetes (Glossary description: Diabetes is a syndrome of disordered metabolism, usually due to a combination of hereditary and environmental causes, resulting in abnormally high blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia).) medicines. In terms of absolute differences , Māori have the greatest excess in prescriptions for antibacterials, followed by analgesics, beta blockers (cardiovascular), diabetes medicines and ACE inhibitors (cardiovascular).
The above data indicating generally higher use of pharmaceuticals by Māori than non-Māori needs to be seen in the context of health need, where Māori in general have higher health needs than non-Māori.