Te Puāwaitanga O Ngā Tapuwae Kia Ora Tonu: Life and Living in Advanced Age, a cohort study in New Zealand (LiLACS NZ) began in 2010 and is following Māori (aged between 80 and 90 years in 2010) and non-Māori (aged 85 years in 2010) to establish predictors of successful ageing. This paper describes healthrelated behaviours, health conditions and self-rated health of 421 Māori and 516 non-Māori in advanced age. Self-rated health was high in both cohorts: 61% Māori and 59% non-Māori rated their health as good/very good/ excellent. Eleven percent of Māori and 5% of non-Māori smoked; Māori had a higher pack-year history of smoking (9.3 vs 6.6 for non-Māori; p<0.01). Māori drank alcohol less frequently; 23% Māori vs 47% non-Māori had alcohol on ≥2 occasions per week (p=0.01). Māori were not more physically active, with median scores on the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly of 95 for Māori vs 89 for non-Māori (p=0.29 in analyses adjusted for the differing proportions of each gender). Māori were not at a higher nutrition risk (49% Māori vs 38% non-Māori; p=0.73 after accounting for the differing proportions of each gender). More non-Māori (73%) than Māori (59%) were driving (p<0.01). The three most common health conditions were hypertension (83%), eye diseases (58%) and coronary artery disease (44%). Interactions between gender and ethnicity were noted for smoking and physical activity. Overall, participants had a median of 5 health conditions.
