Cystic fibrosis in New Zealand: incidence and mortality data.

The incidence of and mortality from cystic fibrosis in New Zealand for the years 1965-1971 have been reviewed. Data were obtained from hospital admission and death records. All of the 171 cases were of European parentage except for one part-Maori child. The minimum incidence of cystic fibrosis in the European population (one in 3185 live births) is comparable with that in other populations of similar background but somewhat lower than that derived by Becroft (1968). The data show that, during the period of the survey, approximately 30 percent of cystic fibrosis suffereres died at less than 12 months of age.