Understanding longer-term disability outcomes for Māori and non-Māori after hospitalisation for injury: results from a longitudinal cohort study

Objectives: The objectives are to (1) describe disability outcomes at 24 months after injury and (2) identify factors contributing to disability outcomes at 24 months after injury, for Māori and non-Māori who have been hospitalised for injury.

Study design: This is a prospective cohort study.

Methods: Prospective Outcomes of Injury Study participants were injured New Zealanders aged 18-64 years and recruited from New Zealand's no-fault injury insurer, the Accident Compensation Corporation's entitlement claims register. Data about a number of pre-injury, injury-related and early post-injury characteristics were collected from interviews held at 3 and 24 months after injury. Disability was measured using the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS). Modified Poisson regression modelling was used to estimate relative risks (RRs) of disability for Māori and non-Māori who were hospitalised for injury.

Results: Analyses were restricted to 375 Māori and 1824 non-Māori participants for whom complete data were available. Of these, 105 (28%) Māori and 446 (24%) non-Māori were hospitalised for their injury. Of these hospitalised groups, 26% of Māori and 10% of non-Māori were experiencing disability (WHODAS ≥10) at 24 months after injury. Māori who were hospitalised for injury and who were not working for pay before their injury (RR = 2.7; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.4-4.9), who were experiencing disability before their injury (RR = 3.1; 95% CI 1.6-5.8) or who reported trouble accessing healthcare services for their injury (RR = 2.6; 95% CI 1.3-5.2) were independently at increased risk of disability 24 months after injury. Non-Māori who were hospitalised for injury and who had inadequate household income before injury (RR = 2.4; 95% CI 1.4-4.1), less than the secondary school qualifications (RR = 2.0; 95% CI 1.1-3.8), were not working for pay before injury (RR = 2.8; 95% CI 1.5-5.1), were experiencing disability before their injury (RR = 3.0; 95% CI 1.7-5.2), had ≥2 chronic conditions (RR = 3.5; 95% CI 2.0-6.4) or had body mass index ≥30 kg/m²/undisclosed (RR = 2.4; 95% CI 1.3-4.4) were at increased risk of disability 24 months after injury.

Conclusions: Variables predicting disability 24 months after injury for Māori, also predict disability 24 months after injury for non-Māori, with one notable exception-trouble accessing healthcare services. Our findings show that having access to healthcare services for injury plays an important role after injury and must be focussed on to ensure that the burden of poor injury-related outcomes and injury-related inequities are reduced and ultimately eliminated.