Ethnic disparities in attendance at New Zealand's chronic pain services

It is unknown how well New Zealand's chronic pain services serve the country's diverse ethnic population. The goal of the study was to determine the attendance rates and clinical presentation of patients presenting at district health board (DHB) chronic pain services across the main ethnicities.

Demographic data of patients attending for an initial assessment in 2015 were requested from all DHBs that offered a multidisciplinary chronic pain service. Actual and expected attendance rates for European, Māori, Pasifika, Asian and Other ethnicities were determined based on census data. In addition, baseline clinical assessment data were obtained from two large DHBs for all patients attending over a two-year period and compared among ethnicities.

Across all services that provided data, Europeans were over-represented by 9%, while Pasifika and Asians were under-represented by 58% and 49%, respectively. Māori patients scored significantly worse than Europeans in all clinical assessment measures, while Pasifika and Asian patients scored worse on the majority of measures.

Ethnic disparities in access to chronic pain services are evident by the marked under-attendance of Pasifika and Asian ethnicities. Māori, in particular, also have a greater need for healthcare related to pain.