• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.429-435
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• 2011

Although Korean population has been growing steadily during the past four decades, the nation is rapidly becoming an aging society because of its declining birth rate combined with an increasing life expectancy. In addition, Korea has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world due to fewer married couples, advanced maternal age, and falling birth rate. The prevalence of low birth weight infants and multiple births has been increased compared with the decrease in the birth rate. Moreover, the number of congenital anomalies is expected to increase due to the advanced maternal age. In addition, the number of interracial children is expected to increase due to the rise in the number of international marriages. However, the maternal education level is high, single-mother birth rate is low, and the gender imbalance has lessened. The number of overweight babies has been decreased, as more pregnant women are receiving adequate prenatal care. Compared to the Asian average birth weight, the average birth weight is the highest in Asia. Moreover, the rate of low birth weight infants is low, and infant mortality is similarly low across Asia. Using birth data from Statistics Korea and studies of birth outcomes in Korea and abroad, this study aimed to assess the changes in maternal and infant characteristics associated with birth outcomes during the past four decades and identify necessary information infrastructures to study countermeasures the decrease in birth rate and increase in low birth weight infants in Korea.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.255-259
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• 2020

Along with the low birth rate in Korea, the aging of mothers is progressing very rapidly. Recent studies have reported that the obstetric infrastructure is crumbling due to the accelerating closures of obstetric medical institutions resulting from the low birth rate and low reimbursement rates for obstetric procedures. The number of birth centers has also decreased, but women's interest in natural birth has actually increased, such that deliveries at birth centers now account for 11.8% of deliveries in obstetric clinics. In the Netherlands, Japan, and the United Kingdom, initiatives to promote natural birth through care provided by midwives increased the rate of natural births, decreased the number of cesarean sections, and lowered the rate of postpartum complications. In light of these examples, South Korea should also encourage natural delivery by midwives. A national support system for midwife applicants is necessary, and the requirements for institutions that train midwives should be revised. Independent birth centers should have emergency prescription privileges, and women should be given the choice to have a natural delivery by creating birth centers within hospitals.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.233-236
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• 2008

In recent years, Korea has experienced a steadily declining birth rate, which is a serious social problem in the country. Although living conditions have improved, the birth rates for low birth weight infants and preterm babies has increased because more and more women choose to give birth later in life and the social environment has changed. The rise in low birth weight infants may increase infant mortality rates and morbidity rates. However, the recent improvements in neonatal care has elevated the survival rate of low birth weight infants up to 90 percent and lowered the weight of the very low birth weight infants that can now be saved. In this study, we used dynamic population statistics from the Korea National Statistical Office, which represents the current trend of social stratification and the population of this period. We analyzed birth records for a seven-year period and studied the changes in the delivery rate of preterm and low birth weight infants and the problems related to those changes. The results show that the rate of low birth weight infants has increased from 3.79% to 4.35% for the past seven years. The rate of preterm babies rose from 3.79% to 4.89%. The number of babies born from mothers aged 35 or more went up from 6.69% to 11.83% of the total number of the babies born. As maternal age has risen, the risks of delivering a preterm or low birth weight infant have also increased.

• The Journal of Economics, Marketing and Management
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2017

This current study aims to investigate the reason for the low birth rate and increasing aging populations. It aims to offer potential countermeasures and possible solutions that might alleviate the decreasing birth rate and exponentially increasing aging populations. The present research has sought out to uncover the origin of the low birth rates and increasing aging populations by compiling various past studies and statistics in South Korea. It includes additional support from the government for working career women in easing their burden for raising a child and allocating the appropriate funds for the increasing elderly populations. The decreasing birth rate can be contributed as a side effect of the past policies passed in South Korea and in turn created an increase in the aging populations. Policies to tackle this current issue needs to be further investigated and employed for the future of the economic and sociological stability of the society. Consistent efforts need to be made to dispel the continuing decrease for birth rates and alarmingly increasing aging populations. Policies and redistribution of government funds are some of the many things that need to be revised.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.817-833
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• 2010

This study was dedicated to searching better course of low birth rate study in Korea by carefully analyzing past and present low birth rate researches. For this 179 studies(101 master thesis and 78 journal articles) from 1991 to 2009 were analyzed. Next, using SPSS Win 12.0, the research type, topic, participants, data collection and method of data analysis were compared to the studies' years of publication. The most frequently applied research approach, topic, sampling method, data collection procedure and data analysis method in the research was found to be a literature study, solution and prevention of low birth rate related policy, literature study, literacy analysis. In conclusion, low birth rate studies should become more diversified in terms of types of the research, data collection method, and data analysis. Additionally, research topics should become more realistic and specified. Moreover, research results should be verified before they are applied to the policy.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.371-378
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• 2022

Objectives: No studies have examined the association between preterm birth rates and socioeconomic factors in Japan using nationwide statistical data. We analyzed the association between preterm birth rates and household occupation using Vital Statistics data. Methods: Aggregated Vital Statistics data from Japan from 2007 to 2019 were obtained from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. From the data, the number of births according to year, age group, gestational period, number of pregnancies, and household occupation were used in this study. Crude preterm birth rates and preterm birth rates adjusted by maternal age according to household occupation were calculated for each year. Poisson regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the association between household occupation and preterm births. Results: Unemployed households had the highest preterm birth rate, and households with an occupation classification of "full-time worker 2" (an employee at a large company, civil servant, or board member) had the lowest preterm birth rate throughout each period. Poisson regression analysis revealed that unemployed households were statistically significantly associated with a high preterm birth risk. In contrast, the preterm birth rate adjusted by maternal age remained stable throughout each period regardless of household occupation, and preterm birth rates were found not to have increased in recent years in Japan. Conclusions: Unemployed households had higher preterm birth rates than other household occupations. Further studies investigating the characteristics of unemployed households are needed to identify the reasons for this disparity.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.31-41
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• 2015

Korea has shown the lowest birth rate among OECD countries for over 10 years. This caused various social tensions and problems including negative impacts on national economy. To deal with these problems and to cope with future risk, diverse strategies must be actively explored. The purpose of this research is to delineate the characteristics of Toronto Birth Centre in Canada which was established currently to support families. Field visit study was the major methodology which includes interview with a staff and walk-through guided observation accompanied by visual recording. As a result, the specific functions and the logic of utilizing the center along with its spatial characteristics were delineated. The result has significant implication in developing coping strategies to release the social tension. The birth center can be an efficient strategy to include as a public strategy to Korean Society who has suffered from long lasting lowest birth rate.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.31
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• pp.23.1-23.6
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• 2016

Objectives A stable follow-up participation rate is a very important factor for validity in a cohort study. This study analyzed the factors that affect the participation rate at one hospital-based birth cohort in South Korean. Methods The participants were recruited from the Mothers' and Children's Environmental Health study between 2006 and 2010. The analysis targeted 1751 mothers who participated in a birth cohort. We conducted analyses of general characteristics during pregnancy and those of infants at birth that affect the participation rate of the 6-month follow-up survey. Results The participation rate for the 6-month follow-up survey was 60.4%. The participation rate in the follow-up of the subsequent period decreased within a 5% to 10% range compared to the number of subjects. The participation rate of premature infants was 16.9% lower than that of a full-term infant (52.6% vs. 69.5%). Analysis showed a 16.7% difference between the participation rate of low-birthweight infants in follow-ups (53.7%) and the participation rate of infants with normal weight (70.4%). The participation rate of mothers who were employed during pregnancy was significantly lower for the 6-month follow-up compared to the participation rate of mothers who were unemployed during pregnancy. Conclusions In this study, factors such as premature birth, low-birthweight, and the employment status of the mother during pregnancy affected the participation rate of the follow-up survey for the birth cohort at six months. A specific strategy is needed to encourage survey participation for the high risk groups in the follow-ups.

• International Journal of Contents
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.52-56
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• 2012

This study examines whether the infant mortality rate and life expectancy at birth are affected by health care expenditure in Korea. It can be provisionally concluded that the infant mortality rate tends to be affected by the health system itself in the long-run, whereas life expectancy at birth is immediately affected by health-related facilities such as the number of physicians and number of hospital beds in the short-run. Therefore, the health-related system should be well established to improve the infant mortality rate. On the contrary, physical capital such as life-prolonging medical technologies has to be accumulated to improve life expectancy at birth.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.51-71
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• 2019

This study analyzed the poverty rate by poverty dimension, correlation between multidimensional poverty, variables that affected the number of poverty dimension and the probability of the poor or not. The sample consisted of 6,361 elderly households (1,561 baby boom birth cohort, 1,793 post-liberation birth cohort, 3,007 Japanese colonial period birth cohort) taken from the $12^{th}$ Korean Welfare Panel Study. First, the highest poverty rate among the baby boom birth cohort was 62.8% of employment poverty. The highest rate among the post-liberation birth cohort and Japanese colonial period birth cohort, was 82.5%, 92.3% of health poverty, respectively. Second, the highest coefficient in the baby boom birth cohort was .354 for asset poverty and relation poverty. In the remaining two cohorts, the coefficient for asset poverty and relation poverty was the highest at .268, .284, respectively. Third, the average number of poverty dimensions was 2.318 of the baby boom birth cohort, 2.921 of the post-liberation birth cohort, 3.564 of the poverty in the Japanese colonial period birth cohort. Also, the poverty rate for each cohort was 20.179%, 28.779%, and 50.083%, respectively. Fourth, the significant variables in all cohorts were gender, education, marital status, residence, and equalized ordinary income for the multiple regression analysis on the number of poverty dimensions. Additionally, age of the post-liberation birth cohort was significant, age and family numbers of the Japanese colonial period birth cohort were significant. Significant variables in logistic analysis on the probability of poverty or not were the same as those of regression analysis.