Three-quarters of early deaths avoidable, study finds

The deaths of almost three-quarters of New Zealanders who died before they were 75 could have been avoided, a study suggests.

The study carried out by the New Zealand Ministry of Health and the University of Adelaide in South Australia looked at deaths of under 75-year-olds in both countries between 1997 and 2001.

It suggested 43.2 per cent of the New Zealand deaths could have been avoidable with health care.

Heart disease and cancer accounted for more than two thirds of the deaths.

Suicide and self-inflicted injuries were a factor in 5.9 per cent of the deaths.

Poor people were at greater risk, as were Maori and Pacific Islanders, whose rate of avoidable death was more than two times that of other ethnicities.

Men accounted for almost two thirds of the 151,000 avoidable deaths annually.

The study found a 5 per cent decrease in avoidable deaths between 1981 and 2001, with a drop in ischaemic heart disease.

However, during that period there was a 41 per cent increase in suicide and self-inflicted injury related deaths. Death from diabetes increased 8.6 per cent.

New Zealand's total rate of avoidable mortality was higher than Australia, where 71.5 per cent of deaths were considered avoidable.

- NZPA