This investigation examined routinely collected clinical data from a memory assessment service in South Auckland, in order to assess the presentation of dementia in the major New Zealand ethnic groups. The analysis included 360 patients presenting to the memory service with a new diagnosis of dementia. The cohort included 142 New Zealand Europeans (mean age, 79.2 years), 43 Māori (mean age, 70.2 years), 126 Pacific (mean age, 74.3 years), and 49 other ethnicities (mean age, 78.0 years). After adjusting for gender and dementia subtype, the analyses revealed that Māori and Pacific patients were 8.5 and 5.3 years younger, respectively, than New Zealand European patients (p<0.0001). After adjusting for age and gender, the researchers found that Pacific peoples tended to present with more advanced dementia (OR 1.63; 95% CI, 0.98 to 2.70; p=0.06). Dementia subtypes did not differ greatly by ethnicity.
