New Zealand European children are more likely to get better asthma treatment than Maori and Pacific Island children, the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation says.
An international survey, published by Dr Lis Ellison-Loschmann from Massey University's Centre for Public Health Research, found nearly a third of Maori children, a quarter of Pacific Island children in New Zealand and a fifth of New Zealand European children had asthma.
While the overall prevalence of asthma had not changed much over the past decade, the number of New Zealand European children with symptoms had decreased while the number of Maori and Pacific Island children with the condition had increased.
The Asthma and Respiratory Foundation executive director Jane Patterson told NZPA the prevalence of asthma among children was much the same across all groups.
But New Zealand European children were "getting better medication and education and therefore are not showing asthma symptoms in the same way that you're getting with Maori and Pacific children".
Maori children were less likely to receive adequate asthma education, have an asthma action plan or be prescribed preventative medication.
"They are not necessarily receiving the best care when they see a health provider," Ms Patterson said.
Research had indicated this could be because of the cost, access to transport and the telephone, and the attitude of the provider, including discrimination.
There was quite a lot of effort going in to improving Maori health and Maori health providers were a key tool in educating about asthma, Ms Patterson said.
Pharmac, the government's drug buying agency, was also trialling an asthma education initiative in Maori language schools.
The survey questioned the parents or caregivers of just over 10,000 children aged six and seven, and more than 13,000 13 and 14-year-olds. It was part of an international survey of about a million children in more than 100 countries, carried out between 2001 and 2003.
Children from Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Nelson and Christchurch participated.
It found that 28.5 percent of Maori had asthma symptoms, up nearly 1 percent from a survey 10 years earlier, while Pacific children showing symptoms had increased over 3 percent to 25.2 percent.
The number of New Zealand European children with asthma had fallen by nearly 4 percent in the same period. Dr Ellison-Loschmann said analysis of ethnic differences in New Zealand made for striking results.
"When the same survey was done in 1992-1993, the ethnic differences were smaller. Since then, asthma symptom prevalence has stayed the same or increased in Maori and Pacific children, but has decreased in Pakeha children.
"So now we have big ethnic differences, particularly for younger children, which didn't exist 15 years ago." Environmental factors such as parental smoking, breastfeeding, family size, use of paracetamol and antibiotics did not explain the disparity in differences, she said.
Asthma prevalence and severity in Maori may not be due to a higher incidence, but rather to a longer duration of the condition resulting from reduced access to care, Dr Ellison-Loschmann said.
Ethnic inequalities may also have been exacerbated by variations in the access to asthma education.
Centre director Professor Neil Pearce said the time lag between the survey and the release of the findings was due to its extensive international scope, with the results of 250 separate centres having to be collated worldwide.