These New Zealand researchers sought to determine how SES and ethnicity impact upon patient survival after abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair. They analysed data from 6,239 patients (median age, 75 years) undergoing open and endovascular AAA repair during a 14.5-year period (from 1 June 2000 to 31 December 2014). According to the ethnicity information on the health records, the majority (n=5,654) of patients identified as New Zealand Europeans; 421 identified as New Zealand Māori, 97 identified as belonging to a Pacific ethnic group, and 67 identified as an Asian ethnic group. The median survival follow-up period was 5 years. In analyses that adjusted for confounders, those who identified as New Zealand Māori had the lowest survival compared with all other ethnic groups (HR 1.46; 95% CI, 1.23 to 1.72). When the researchers linked SES (on a score of 10, where 1 is least deprived and 10 is most deprived) to census data, they found that living in areas of high social deprivation ≥7 was an independent predictor of short- and medium-term overall mortality, as compared with living in deprivation deciles 1 or 2 (low SES).
