A Study of Ulcerative Colitis in New Zealand, Showing a Low Incidence in Maoris

An epidemiological study of ulcerative colitis and regional enteritis in the Oxford area.

“…We were unable to detect an urban/rural difference in risk as was found in New Zealand by Wigley and Maclaurin (1962); Matsunaga (1959) found evidence in Japan of a higher incidence in large towns compared with small. Our findings possibly reflect a greater uniformity of medical surveillance over the region than obtain over the large areas involved in the two studies cited.…”

“…8 (a) males, and (b) females. The similarity between the New Zealand hospitalization rates (Wigley and Maclaurin, 1962) (Wigley and Maclaurin, 1962) and Norway (Gjone and Myren, 1964). 1964). A secondary increase was also noted in a study of U.S. Army cases (Acheson and Nefzger, 1963) although it occurred in a younger age group (men who were aged 40-44 in 1944 Two main biological explanations for the bimodal age-incidence pattern have already been discussed in the appropriate section dealing with the results of the survey.…”

“…This work has subsequently been extended by Gjone and Myren (1964). Wigley and Maclaurin (1962) have published first hospitalization rates for New Zealand with special reference to the Wellington area. Acheson and Nefzger (1963) studied the epidemiology of ulcerative colitis in the United States Army in 1944.…”

Ulcerative colitis with ankylosing spondylitis.

“…They concluded that the maximum possible prevalence of ulcerative colitis was 0 085 per cent., assuming that only a quarter of all cases would require in-patient treatment. Wigley and Maclaurin (1962) thought this to be 0 041 per cent. in Europeans in New Zealand, and Evans and Acheson (1965) found the combined prevalence of ulcerative colitis and proctitis to be 0 0799 per cent.…”

Liver in ulcerative colitis: obstructive jaundice due to bile duct carcinoma.

“…No figures are available for its incidence in Australia. However, in New Zealand, which has racial, cultural, and geographical similarities to Australia, the estimated mean annual occurrence of new cases among the non-Maori population is between 5 and 6 per 100,000 and the prevalence 41-4 per 100,000 (Wigley and Maclaurin, 1962). Therefore, the occurrence reported in this paper, of three patients with bile duct carcinoma out of a total series of 441 patients with ulcerative colitis, is striking and suggests a specific association.…”