Ethnic differences in those presenting for outpatient management of venous leg ulcers

To describe the demographics of those presenting to Capital & Coast DHB District Nursing Service with venous leg ulcers (VLU).

Electronic records were searched between January 2015 and December 2020 for those presenting with VLU and matched to the national minimum dataset to obtain ethnicity, age at presentation and gender. Numbers were standardised against the census data for the DHB population, to allow comparison of ethnic differences. Analysis was by prioritised ethnicity: comparing Pasifika, Māori and Other.

Of 999 patients with VLU treated by the DN service, there were 91 Māori, 114 Pasifika, and 794 other ethnicities. Five hundred and fifty-nine were female and 440 were male. Pasifika men and women were greatly over-represented with relative risks of 20 and 19, respectively. Māori men and women had lower relative risk of 6.6 and 5.0, respectively. In addition, Māori and Pasifika presented earlier, with standardised rates greater than other ethnicities in all age groups up to the age of 70. Average age at presentation for Māori was 14-16, and Pasifika 17-18 years, younger than Other.

This analysis shows for the first time that Māori and Pasifika have higher rates and present earlier than those of other ethnicities. Further investigation is required to understand the causes of earlier presentation and thereby prevent VLU.