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Heart samples collected by Heart Otago- the link to pacific populations.

Year:
2018
Duration:
7 months
Approved budget:
$5,000.00
Researchers:
Miss Theresa Fitzpatrick
Health issue:
Cardiovascular/cerebrovascular
Proposal type:
Pacific Health Summer Studentship
Lay summary
From 2006 to 2007, 10 percent of Pacific peoples aged over 15 years were diagnosed with diabetes – approximately three times the diagnosis rate for the total New Zealand population (Statistics New Zealand and Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs, 2011). Diabetes and heart disease are becoming increasingly common amongst Maori and Pacific populations in NZ, and this project will aim to explore the feasibility to link human functional cardiovascular and clinical data to diabetes and heart disease in Pacific populations. Using heart tissue collected by Heart Otago, the goal of the current project is to compare the functional outcomes of the diabetic and non-diabetic human heart studies to patient characteristics such as ethnicity. This could provide a perspective on the current status of diabetic heart disease specific to a Pacific population.