Epidemiology of Pacific peoples in Canterbury primary care: a cross-sectional study of five priority ethnicity subgroups

INTRODUCTION: Pacific peoples experience significant health inequities. National health data often aggregate diverse Pacific communities into a single category, potentially masking important differences in social-context health needs between subgroups. AIM: This study aimed to describe the epidemiology and health indicators of Pacific Peoples enrolled at Pegasus Health Primary Health Organisation (PHO), Waitaha Canterbury, Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), from the five largest ethnic subgroups: Samoan, Tongan, Cook Islands Māori, Niuean, and Fijian peoples. METHOD: This cross-sectional study used anonymised administrative data from Pegasus Health PHO, NZ. All enrolled patients with Pacific ethnicity recorded at any level were identified (n = 14,209). Demographic characteristics, socioeconomic deprivation, smoking status, and diabetes diagnoses were analysed by ethnicity using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Samoan patients comprised 52.8% of Pacific peoples enrolled (n = 7,498), followed by Fijian (18.4%), Tongan (14.3%), Cook Islands Māori (11.2%), and Niuean (3.4%). The population was predominantly young (mean age ranged from 27 to 32 years). Socioeconomic deprivation varied substantially: 33% of Samoan and 25% of Tongan patients lived in the most deprived areas (quintile 5), compared to 17% of Fijians who lived in quintile 5. Smoking prevalence ranged from 7.2% (Fijian) to 13.1% (Cook Islands Māori). Diabetes ranged from 5.5% (Cook Islands Māori) to 9.3% (Samoans). DISCUSSION: Substantial heterogeneity exists across Pacific subgroups in Canterbury regarding demographics, socioeconomic circumstances, and key health indicators. Disaggregated ethnicity data reveal distinct patterns that are obscured when Pacific peoples are treated as a single homogeneous group. This has important implications for targeting health services and designing interventions to achieve health equity.