Study shows Pacific children should live longer than Pākehā - why don't they?

Monday, 5 August 2019

More than 6000 children are being followed as part of the Growing up in New Zealand study.

Why Pacific Island children have a lower life expectancy than other New Zealanders needs to be studied, researchers say, after a study found a DNA advantage that should lead to longer life.

More than 6000 Kiwi children have been tracked since birth for the University of Auckland's Growing up in New Zealand study.

Senior research fellow and molecular biologist Dr Caroline Walker said the study is the first to examine telomere length in New Zealand children.

The DNA of more than 4000 of these children was studied to record the length of telomeres, an 'essential' part of all human chromosomes that shorten with age and can affect the development of age-related diseases.

Researchers used a special technique to measure the length of telomeres. It found that Pacific Island children had the longest and on average, it was 16 per cent longer than Pākehā children.

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Asian children had the next longest telomeres, followed by Māori children and then Pākehā.

The study also found girls had 'significantly' longer telomeres than boys and children born to older mothers had longer telomeres.

But senior research fellow and molecular biologist Dr Caroline Walker said the findings which showed Pacific and Māori children had longer telomeres – a sign of potential longevity – needed more research.

This was because Pacific and Māori have a lower life expectancy, on average, when compared with Pākehā.

In 2013, life expectancy at birth was 73 years for Māori males and 77.1 years for Māori females, Statistics New Zealand said.

It was 78.7 years for Pacific females and 74.5 for Pacific males.

For non-Māori females the life expectancy was 83.9 years and 80.3 years for non-Māori men.

'More research is needed to understand how telomere length interacts with other genetic and environmental factors to affect the health and wellbeing of Māori and Pacific people,' Walker said.

'We certainly know that stressful or adverse environments can impact the length of telomeres in later life.'

Walker said the study is the first to examine telomere length in New Zealand children.

It is also the first study to show differences in telomere length between ethnic groups in Kiwi children.

The 'beauty' of a longitudinal study like this meant researchers could potentially track the length of telomere change over time,' Walker said.

This would help to understand the influence of certain environmental factors, such as stress, diet and exercise, she added.

The Growing up in New Zealand study has been funded by the Ministry of Social Development since 2017.

It is the country's largest longitudinal study and follows more than 6000 children born in the Auckland, Counties Manukau and Waikato district health board areas.

The study intends to follow the children until they are at least 21.