Poverty cuts years off NZ lives

By MARTIN JOHNSTON and NZPA

Poverty cuts nine years off the lifespan of New Zealand men and more than six years off women's lives.

The stark statistics presented by health researchers are some of the sharpest indicators of the links between poverty and health.

The bottom tenth of men in society who are "most deprived" have a life expectancy at birth of 68.9 years, compared with 78.1 for those at the other end of the wealth scale.

Among women, the most deprived tenth can expect to live 75.4 years on average, compared with 82.1 for those in the top tenth.

But even the most deprived Europeans are better off than their Maori countrymen and women, whose life expectancies are eight to 10 years shorter for the most deprived.

The figures are contained in a report, Social Inequalities in Health, produced for the Ministry of Health by the Wellington Medical School.

The researchers report that people with little money are associated with higher rates of death, smoking, sudden infant death syndrome, heart-disease risk factors, diabetes, adult asthma prevalence and hospital admission.

White-collar workers are more likely to die of skin cancer, leukaemia or immune system cancers than those who normally work outdoors.

But those in unskilled work and other "lower occupational classes" are more likely to die of cancer of the liver, throat, lung, mouth or stomach, diseases linked to smoking and drinking.

The researchers say that since life expectancy is consistently less for Maori than Europeans, regardless of the level of deprivation, "other factors, such as the long-standing and continuing effects of colonisation may also be operating."

Cancer Society medical director Peter Dady said yesterday that there were established links between cancer types found in "lower occupational classes" and smoking and drinking.

However, he said there were no strong known risk factors associated with leukaemia and immune system cancers.

While skin cancers were linked to sun exposure, he did not know why rates should be higher for white-collar workers.

Study author Nick Wilson, a Wellington public health physician, said it was possible office workers were more prone to sunburn even though they spent less time in the sun.

"It's not just sun exposure that is linked with skin cancer, but the pattern of sun exposure."

He said high-income office workers were less used to the sun and sometimes took less care as a result.

The report says health inequalities persist over generations, although the degree of difference does vary over time, suggesting Government policy interventions have an effect.

It also says that in countries with a colonial past, such as New Zealand, the health of the indigenous people is poorer than that of the colonising people.