Social Inequality in Birth Outcomes in Korea, 1995-2008.
10.3346/jkms.2013.28.1.25
- Author:
Mi Jin PARK
1
;
Mia SON
;
Young Ju KIM
;
Domyung PAEK
Author Information
1. Department of Environmental Health, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
- Publication Type:Original Article ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
- Keywords:
Social Inequality;
Parental Education;
Parental Work;
Parental Occupation;
Birth Outcome Effect;
Low Birth Weight;
Preterm Birth;
Intrauterine Growth Retardation
- MeSH:
Adolescent;
Adult;
Educational Status;
Employment;
Female;
Fetal Growth Retardation/*epidemiology;
Humans;
Infant, Low Birth Weight;
Infant, Newborn;
Logistic Models;
Male;
Middle Aged;
Mothers;
Odds Ratio;
Parents;
Premature Birth/*epidemiology;
Republic of Korea/epidemiology;
*Social Class;
Time Factors;
Young Adult
- From:Journal of Korean Medical Science
2013;28(1):25-35
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Social inequality in adverse birth outcomes has been demonstrated in several countries. The present study examined the separate and joint effects of parental education and work in order to investigate the causal pathways of social class effects on adverse birth outcomes in Korea. The occurrence of low birth weight, preterm births, and intrauterine growth retardation was examined among 7,766,065 births in Korea from 1995 to 2008. The effect of social inequality, as represented by parental education and work, was examined against adverse birth outcomes using multivariate logistic regression after controlling for other covariates. Parental education had the most significant and greatest effect on all three adverse outcomes, followed by parental work and employment, which had lesser effects. For adverse birth outcomes, the gap between educational levels increased steadily in Korea from 1995 to 2008. Throughout the analysis, the effect of maternal manual work on adverse birth outcomes was apparent in the study results. Given this evidence of social inequality in education and employment, social interventions should aim at more in-depth and distal determinants of health.
