A study of nearly 3.9 million surgical procedures conducted in New Zealand between 2005 and 2017 has revealed higher rates of postoperative mortality for Māori vs European patients. The study assessed 30-day and 90-day postoperative mortality rates for all surgical specialties and by common procedures. Hazard ratios for mortality risk according to ethnicity were adjusted for age, sex, deprivation, rurality, comorbidity, American Society of Anesthesiology score, anaesthetic type, procedure risk and procedure specialty. Māori had higher rates of 30- and 90-day postoperative mortality across most procedure categories, in particular for elective/waiting list procedures. For example, the adjusted hazard ratio for 30-day mortality after an elective/ waiting list musculoskeletal procedure was 1.93 (95% CI 1.56-2.39) for Māori vs European patients. The authors stated that the disparities were likely driven by a combination of healthcare system, process and clinical team factors.
