The prevalence of aortic stenosis in Māori undergoing clinically indicated echocardiography compared to New Zealand Europeans.

Aim: There are limited data on the prevalence of calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) in Māori and known inequities in outcomes after aortic valve intervention. Our study aimed to investigate the prevalence of CAVD in Māori.

Methods: Data from initial clinically indicated echocardiograms performed between 2010 to 2018 in patients aged ≥18 years were linked to nationally collected outcome data. Ethnicity was defined using protocols from the Ministry of Health.

Results: Of the 23,635 patients, 1,312 (5.6%) identified as Māori, and 22,323 (94.4%) as European. Prevalence of aortic stenosis was 5.3% in Māori and 9.9% in Europeans. Age-specific prevalence did not differ between the two groups. Māori with CAVD were more than twice as likely to have advanced cardiac impairment (right ventricular dysfunction) than Europeans (10.1% vs 4.6, p<0.001).

Conclusions: Age-specific CAVD rates did not differ between Māori and Europeans, though Māori had a higher proportion of advanced cardiac impairment, which is likely unrelated to CAVD. Differences in population structure likely explain the difference in overall prevalence of CAVD. The improving life expectancy in Māori may lead to increasing incidence of CAVD, thus strategies to improve detection and medical management of CAVD should begin as soon as possible.