The proposal, that poor fetal development (such as low birth weight) is associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk later in life, was examined in 855 hospitals-born Auckland adolescents. We found that blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and blood glucose levels were unrelated to low birthweight but positively associated with current adolescent weight. These results indicate that prevention of cardiovascular risk factors in adolescence should focus on lowering current weight rather than trying to achieve higher births weights among at-risk populations.

Coeliac disease is a condition caused by an inability to digest gluten, which often results in bowel symptoms, weight loss, or failure to gain weight. It is relatively common in New Zealand. Our study reviewed the clinical presentation and testing of children diagnosed with coeliac disease at Starship Children’s Hospital over a 4-year period between January 1999 and December 2002; 48 patients were studied (range 1.6 to 15.7 years). Older (>5 years) children mostly presented to hospital with abdominal pain, while younger children mostly presented with ‘failure to thrive’; children are mostly being first diagnosed at an older age. Anti-endomysial and tissue transglutaminase antibodies are reliable tests for coeliac disease. However, in younger patients or if there is a high clinical index of suspicion of coeliac disease, small bowel biopsy should be performed, even if the anti-endomysial and tissue transglutaminase antibody tests are negative.

Rheumatic fever is an important sequel of throat infections in some areas of New Zealand, particularly for at-risk Maori or Pacific Island children aged 5–14 years. This study found that sore throat remains one of the top-10 symptoms patients present to their GP over the last decade. It was encouraging that more at-risk patients attended their GP with sore throat than had been observed 10 years previously. The perceived urgency of visit to the GP was greatest in parents worried about their young children. However, a wait for over a week with a sore throat among the at-risk group of 5–14 years may influence the attack rate of rheumatic fever. Most GPs were certain of their diagnoses; however, fewer GPs explicitly stated viral causes of sore throat than might be expected given the higher prevalence of viral related sore throats in the community. 61% of sore throat patients were prescribed an antibiotic and 6.6% had a throat swab. Overall, GPs appeared to have different management policies for patients with sore throat who come from different ethnic backgrounds, as there was less swabbing of the throat and more prescribing of antibiotics for Maori and particularly Pacific Island patients compared to European patients.