Impact of long-term conditions
Long-term health conditions are by far the largest contributor to health loss in New Zealand, accounting for 88 per cent of disability–adjusted life years. The economic cost and burden on the health system is substantial and growing. There are important inequities both in the incidence and the outcomes from long-term conditions.
Cancer and comorbidity
Comorbidity is when patients have co-existing health conditions. Comorbidity is common among cancer patients, and with an ageing population, is becoming more so. Comorbidity potentially affects the development, stage at diagnosis, treatment and outcomes of people with cancer.
We investigated:
- Improving management of comorbidity in patients with colorectal cancer
- Cancer care journeys and clinical decision-making
- Effect of comorbidity on care and cancer survival inequalities
More about our cancer and comorbidity research
Multimorbidity
Multimorbidity is the coexistence of more than one chronic disease. Multimorbidity results in high health service use, competing demands on patients and health care professionals, reduced quality of life and higher mortality, with greater impact for Māori and Pacific people, and those living in deprived areas.
The aims of our work were to describe the prevalence, patterns and impact of multimorbidity in New Zealand, increase our understanding of patients' experience of living with multimorbidity, and to develop novel health service interventions aimed at reducing the impact of multimorbidity.
Visit our multimorbidity publications in OUR Archive
"In order to create sustainable health systems with empowered patients and communities, we need a radical change in our approach to managing these conditions. Research focused on multimorbidity is scarce internationally and almost non-existent in New Zealand."
Professor Jason Gurney
Cancer and diabetes co-occurrence
Between 2021-2023, our C3 team completed a Health Research Council-funded project aimed to answer the questions:
- How commonly do cancer and diabetes co-occur in NZ (and how might this look in the future)?
- To what extent does diabetes and its care impact on cancer diagnosis, treatment and outcomes in New Zealand?
- To what extent are Māori and Pacific people disproportionately impacted by the co-occurrence of diabetes and cancer?
Cancer and diabetes in New Zealand
The number of people diagnosed with cancer is projected to increase substantially over the coming decades; simultaneously, the number of people living with diabetes is increasing dramatically over time. In addition, our Māori and Pacific populations bear a disproportionate burden of both conditions. Disease co-occurrence is likely to increase the complexity of cancer care, the timing of diagnosis, access to treatment, and ultimately will affect survival outcomes. However, key pieces of evidence are currently missing in terms of our understanding of the interplay of cancer and diabetes.
Visit our cancer and diabetes publications in OUR Archive
Improving diabetes outcomes
We have used New Zealand’s Virtual Diabetes Register linked to other national health datasets to identify risk factors for poor outcomes among people with diabetes, including lower limb complications and amputation. We have evaluated interventions to reduce the burden of diabetes in our community, including a trial investigating the usefulness of a self-management intervention, which shifts the focus from clinical management in the surgery or clinic, to prevention and management in the hands of the people living with these conditions
Type 2 diabetes in New Zealand
Type 2 diabetes mellitus ( T2DM ) is one of the most common long term conditions affecting New Zealand adults. The prevalence of both T2DM and prediabetes is rapidly increasing. Māori, Pacific and Indian people have particularly high rates, up to three times higher than European New Zealanders. Diabetes is associated with multiple long-term complications, higher mortality and substantial healthcare costs.