Lay summary
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death in New Zealand with the burden of CVD falling heavily on New Zealand Pacific. HeartOtago collects heart tissue samples from Southern District Health Board (SDHB) resident patients undergoing cardiac surgery at the Dunedin Hospital. Upon retrospective analysis of the HeartOtago study, it was found that Pacific patients were underrepresented compared to the percentage of Pacific people in the SDHB catchment area from the New Zealand census data (0.8% vs 2.0%). It was also found that in Pacific patients, body mass index (BMI), the proportion of hypertension and diabetes were highest, while average age was lowest, in comparison to patients of all other ethnicities. Therefore, the aim of the study is to determine how Pacific patients differ from other ethnic groups in terms of CVD, particularly in cardiac interventions and outcomes by completing the ethnic information, demographic and clinical characteristics and outcomes of the entire HeartOtago study.