The research was based on an Otago analysis of patient-reported and Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) data.
A paper just published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health showed that disability rates for Maori were at 19%, two years after injury.
Dr Emma Wyeth, who led the study, said previous research had shown that Maori experienced at least twice as much injury-related health burden as non-Maori.
Dr Wyeth is a senior lecturer in the Otago preventive and social medicine department and is director of the Ngai Tahu Maori Health Research Unit, which is based at the university.
The findings are from the Prospective Outcomes of Injury Study (POIS), led by Associate Prof Sarah Derrett, who directs the university's Injury Prevention Research Unit.
POIS was funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC), with co-funding from ACC.
Dr Wyeth says the team found that pre-injury and injury-related factors predicted long-term disability and should be focused on to reduce the longer-term disability burden for Maori.
''These factors include people with an inadequate household income pre-injury or with two or more chronic health conditions being at increased risk of disability,'' she said.
The study results also suggested that injured Maori had difficulties ''accessing health services such as general practices and hospitals'' and that this could lead to long-term disability.
Even when Maori could access health services, including ACC, less equitable outcomes compared to non-Maori were still apparent.
''These people do need additional support from the health service and ACC,'' she said in an interview.
Dr Wyeth is now leading a new HRC-funded project to confirm specific areas and factors that health services should be focusing on to improve Maori post-injury outcomes and reduce the burden of post-injury disability.
