Patriotism problems

People expressing patriotism by listing themselves as New Zealanders on health records are causing problems for researchers investigating health patterns in ethnic communities.

University of Otago's Pauline Norris, who conducted a study looking at health records, said: "It is very important that ethnicity is recorded accurately, because this is used to find out whether particular health problems are more prevalent in some communities, and whether people in these communities have fair access to health services."