As highlighted on this infographic, Respiratory conditions affect 1 in 6 kiwis, and are the third leading cause of death in New Zealand. Bronchiectasis affects just 99.6 per 100,000 people in New Zealand, and is thus less common than other respiratory conditions. However, as the following key statistics from the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation show, its impact is paramount:
- hospitalisation rates increased by 30% between 2000 and 2013 to 26.4 per 100,000, and deaths doubled from 42 per year in 2000/01 to 84 in 2011
- there is a much higher risk of hospitalisation or death for people of Māori, Pacific or Asian ethnicity: Pacific people are 6.4 times, Māori 3.7 times and Asians 2.3 times more likely to be hospitalised than other New Zealanders (non-Māori, non-Pacific and non-Asian), and these differences are similar for mortality
- people living in the most deprived areas are 3.2 times more likely to be hospitalised and 2.7 times more likely to die from bronchiectasis than those in the least deprived areas (Telfar Barnard et al., 2015).
Better Out Than In 