A retrospective cohort study has found that Māori individuals experienced worse survival outcomes and greater mortality rates from head and neck cancer (HNC) in New Zealand, and present with more advanced disease at a younger age. Anonymised data were obtained from the New Zealand Cancer Registry for 6593 patients diagnosed with HNC between 2010 and 2020. The study population was comprised of 10.7% Māori and 89.3% other ethnicities, predominantly New Zealand European (65.6%). At 5 years after diagnosis, the mortality rate was 39.3% for Māori compared with 35.1% for individuals of other ethnicity (p = 0.03) and 33.3% for New Zealand European individuals (p = 0.002). Mean age of HNC diagnosis was 58.0 years for Māori individuals compared with 64.3 years for individuals of other ethnicity, and mean ages of death were 63.5 vs 72.3 years, respectively. Māori individuals were less likely to have only localised disease at presentation compared with individuals of other ethnicity (14.5% vs 24.0%; p < 0.001), and were more likely to have regional lymph node involvement at diagnosis (39.1% vs 30.5% of patients; p < 0.001).
