Gout in the Maori.

To extend knowledge of the rheumatic diseases epidemiological studies are of considerable importance, and these are of particular interest where disease incidence in different racial groups living side by side can be compared. Such opportunity occurs in New Zealand, especially in the northern part of the North Island where live most of the Maori population. At Rotorua in the centre of this area is the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the national hospital for rheumatic diseases. Clinical experiences at the hospital early suggested that the pattern of rheumatism differed in the Maori and European populations; the Maori people appeared to be affected less by rheumatoid arthritis (Rose, 1955), but more by rheumatic fever and gout than the inhabitants of European stock. These apparent differences were considered worthy of further investigation not only because of their intrinsic interest but also because of their possible bearing on aetiological concepts of these diseases. Further, the rate of natural increase of the Maori population is now much greater than that of the non-Maori, and the subject is one of public health importance. This paper reports one aspect of these investigations: the prevalence of gout in the Maori population. Because the findings are so much at variance with a widely-held opinion that-"gout is much commoner among certain races, e.g. the English and German; it is very uncommon among native races" (Hunter, 1956), it is thought worth while to record our results.