Study into health

Research is under way to gather data on people with multiple long term health conditions and Tokoroa has been chosen to take part in the government funded study.

Questions on living with a number of long term health conditions and how can life be made easier for these people are what researchers from the University of Otago hope to answer in the new study.

Co-investigator Ross Lawrenson said for the past 10 years, research has been done on the management of people with chronic diseases and improving the care of such patients.

‘‘But actually, people out there don’t just have one disease. It is more complicated treating them.’’

The initial research involves individual and group interviews with people with multiple long term conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and asthma. Findings from this research will be used to develop a large patient survey to be undertaken in 2016.

‘‘Research in this area is almost non-existent in New Zealand and scarce internationally.’’

The researchers are working with local health providers in Waikato, Wellington and Canterbury to identify patients to take part in the study.

Lawrenson said Tokoroa was chosen as a rural centre because of three reasons. Its population is large enough, it has a high Maori population and many people are living in low-socio economic areas.

Lawrenson said: ‘‘It is critical to understand what it is like to live with multiple health conditions. Doing so, will enable more effective services to be put in place’’.

The study is funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand, a government organisation.

‘‘This is a high topic issue,’’ he said.