Comparison of Neonatal and Infant Mortality Rates between Infants Born in South Korea and Those Born in the United States

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Purpose: The neonatal (NMR) or infant mortality rate (IMR) in South Korea is lowerthan that in the United States. We aimed to investigate the contributing factors to thisdifference in mortality rates.
Methods: The study populations consisted of five groups, namely group A, comprisinglive births in South Korea during 2009–2011 (n=1,383,806), and groups B (live births toKorean parents, n=107,309), C (Caucasian births, n=31,588,183), D (African-origin,n=4,381,664), and E (all live births, n=49,384,187) comprising various US live birthsduring 2000–2011. Maternal characteristics, birth outcomes, and mortality rates inthese five groups were compared according to birth weight (BW) and gestational age(GA).
Results: Maternal characteristics such as BW distribution and very low and low BWrates among infants in South Korea and those in the United States were quite similar.
Both rates were significantly lower among the Korean live births than amongCaucasian and African-origin live births in the United States. However, the mortalityrates of these small birth weight groups were significantly higher in the Korean infantsborn in South Korea than in those born in the United States, or in Caucasian andAfrican-origin infants born in the United States. Similar results were noted whenanalyzed according to gestational age.
Conclusion: The NMR or IMR in South Korea is lower than that in the United States,primarily due to the overwhelming favorable BW and GA distribution, despite thelower BW- and GA-specific survival rates in the live births in South Korea than in theUnited States.

참고문헌 (Reference)

1 김민희, "한국에서 최근 7년간 저체중 출생아 및 미숙아 출생률의 변화" 대한소아과학회 51 (51): 233-236, 2008

2 MacDorman MF, "Understanding racial and ethnic disparities in U.S. infant mortality rates" 74 : 1-8, 2011

3 MacDorman MF, "Trends in preterm-related infant mortality by race and ethnicity, United States, 1999-2004" 37 : 635-641, 2007

4 Shim JW, "The impact of neonatal care resources on regional variation in neonatal mortality among very low birthweight infants in Korea" 27 : 216-225, 2013

5 Menon R, "Spontaneous preterm birth, a clinical dilemma:etiologic, pathophysiologic and genetic heterogeneities and racial disparity" 87 : 590-600, 2008

6 Hollowell J Kurinczuk JJ, "Social and ethnic inequalities in infant mortality: a perspective from the United kingdom" 35 : 240-244, 2011

7 한원호, "Recent Trends in Neonatal Mortality in Very Low Birth Weight Korean Infants: In Comparison with Japan and the USA" 대한의학회 26 (26): 467-473, 2011

8 Fiscella K, "Racial disparity in infant and maternal mortality:confluence of infection, and microvascular dysfunction" 8 : 45-54, 2004

9 Culhane JF, "Racial disparities in preterm birth" 35 : 234-239, 2011

10 Hauck FR, "Racial and ethnic disparities in infant mortality" 35 : 209-220, 2011

11 Anachebe NF, "Racial and ethnic disparities in infant and maternal mortality" 16 : S3-71-S3-76, 2006

12 MacDorman MF, "Race and ethnic disparities in fetal mortality, preterm birth, and infant mortality in the United States:an overview" 35 : 200-208, 2011

13 Dizon-Townson DS, "Preterm labour and delivery: a genetic predisposition" 15 : 57-62, 2001

14 Hogue CJ, "Preterm birth in the African-American community" 19 : 255-262, 1995

15 Wong LF, "Perinatal outcomes among different Asian-American subgroups" 199 : 382.e1-382.e6, 2008

16 Health Status, "Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD)"

17 Matthews TJ, "Infant mortality statistics from the 2010 period linked birth/infant death data set" 62 : 1-26, 2013

18 Goldenberg RL, "Epidemiology and causes of preterm birth" 371 : 75-84, 2008

19 장지영, "Decreasing Trends of Neonatal and Infant Mortality Rates in Korea: Compared with Japan, USA, and OECD Nations" 대한의학회 26 (26): 1115-1123, 2011

20 Howell EA, "Black/white differences in very low birth weight neonatal mortality rates among New York City hospitals" 121 : e407-e415, 2008

21 Shiono PH, "Birth weight among women of different ethnic groups" 255 : 48-52, 1986

22 임재우, "Birth Outcomes of Koreans by Birthplace of Infants and Their Mothers, the United States versus Korea, 1995-2004" 대한의학회 25 (25): 1343-1351, 2010