Using New Zealand death registration and population data from 2013 through 2015, these researchers assessed life expectancy differentials associated with potentially avoidable causes of death within Māori and Pacific populations when compared to the non-Māori/non-Pacific population. As the study researchers explain, avoidable mortality can be used as a measure of how effectively healthcare, health and social policy are contributing to population health and health equity, by how many premature deaths occur from certain conditions and in the presence of timely, effective and equitable healthcare or other appropriate interventions. In each of the three target study populations, much higher proportions of all deaths were attributed to potentially avoidable causes of death among Māori (53.0%) and Pacific peoples (47.3%) than among non-Māori/non- Pacific populations (23.2%). Conditions considered to be both preventable and amenable made the greatest contribution to the life expectancy differentials within both Māori and Pacific groups, compared with non-Māori/ non-Pacific. Within Māori males and females, trachea, bronchus and lung cancers accounted for 0.8 and 0.9 years of the life expectancy differential, respectively. Avoidable injuries including suicide contributed as much as 1.0 year to the differential in Māori males. Coronary disease, diabetes and cerebrovascular disease were large contributors to the differential in both Pacific males and females.
