Decreasing Trends of Neonatal and Infant Mortality Rates in Korea: Compared with Japan, USA, and OECD Nations.
10.3346/jkms.2011.26.9.1115
- Author:
Ji Young CHANG
1
;
Kyung Suk LEE
;
Won Ho HAHN
;
Sung Hoon CHUNG
;
Yong Sung CHOI
;
Kye Shik SHIM
;
Chong Woo BAE
Author Information
1. Department of Pediatrics, Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. baecw@khnmc.or.kr
- Publication Type:Review
- Keywords:
Public health;
Epidemiologic methods;
Data collection;
Vital statistics;
Mortality;
Infant mortality;
Neonatal mortality;
Korea;
Japan;
United States;
OECD;
Epidemiology
- MeSH:
Female;
Health Services;
Humans;
Infant;
Infant Mortality/*trends;
Infant, Newborn;
Japan;
Perinatal Care;
Pregnancy;
Pregnancy, High-Risk;
Public Health;
Republic of Korea;
United States
- From:Journal of Korean Medical Science
2011;26(9):1115-1123
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Neonatal mortality rate (NMR) and infant mortality rate (IMR) are two of the most important indices reflecting the level of public health of a country. In this review, we investigated changes in NMR and IMR in Korea and compared the results with those of Japan, USA, and OECD nations. During the past 20 yr, NMR and IMR have lowered remarkably from 6.6 and 9.9 in 1993 to 1.7 and 3.2 in 2009, respectively, in Korea. It is an impressive finding that Korean IMR (3.2 in 2009) is lower than the average of OECD nations (4.7 in 2008), and USA (6.3 in 2009), although higher than Japanese IMR (2.8 in 2009). The proportion of NMR among the IMR calculation decreased from 66.7% in 1993 to 53.1% in 2009. The reason the value of Korea was higher than Japan but lower than USA was speculated to be an aspect of the health care service system. Several suggestions in perinatal, neonatal and infantile health care such as establishment of perinatal care center, research network system, regionalization, and new policies for care of pre-term and high risk pregnancy, are elucidated to achieve further improvement on NMR and IMR in Korea.
