People with a chronic health condition or disability

People living with a chronic health condition or a disability are more susceptible to environmental hazards.

People with a chronic health condition or disability are more vulnerable to environmental hazards

People with chronic health conditions may be more susceptible to environmental hazards. For example, they may be at increased risk from:

• infectious diseases, due to weak body defences
• effects of air pollution (particularly among people with chronic lung diseases, asthma, and cardiovascular disease), as their lungs are already working hard to cope at ‘normal’ levels of air pollution
• skin cancer (among people with low immunity, like people who have had an organ transplant or HIV infection).

Health conditions that may increase people’s susceptibility to environmental hazards include [1]:

• cardiovascular disease, such as ischaemic heart disease and stroke
• respiratory disease, such as COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
• asthma
• diabetes
• immune-deficiency, like organ transplant or HIV infection
• mental health conditions.

People with other health needs, including pregnant women and people taking essential medication (such as for high blood pressure), may also be more susceptible to environmental hazards.

Disability may also increase people’s vulnerability to environmental hazards. For example, disability may affect a person's ability to move themselves out of a hazardous area (for example during a flood event).   

Number of people with chronic health conditions

Results from the 2023/24 New Zealand Health Survey [2] show:

• 4.5 percent of adults (15+ years) had been diagnosed with ischaemic (coronary) heart disease (195,000 adults)
• 17.7 percent of adults took medication for high blood pressure (768,000 adults)
• 12.4 percent of adults took medication for asthma (536,000 adults)
• 6.4 percent of adults had been diagnosed with diabetes (278,000 adults)
• 13.0 percent of adults had high or very high levels of psychological distress in the previous four weeks (564,000 adults).

Number of people with a disability

The 2023 New Zealand Household Disability Survey showed [3]:

• In 2023, 17 percent of people living in New Zealand households were disabled. This represented 851,000 people (out of about 5 million people). 
• Disability rates increased with age. The disability rate for children was 10 percent, while the disability rate for older adults (65+ years) was 35 percent.
• Age-adjusted rates of disability were higher among Māori (24%) and Pacific peoples (21%), than among European (17%) and Asian (13%) populations.
• Rates of disability were well above the national average in the Northland (23%), Manawatū-Whanganui (21%) and Taranaki (21%) regions, while Auckland had the lowest rate of disability (14%).
• For adults, difficulties with physical functioning were the most common type of disability.