BACKGROUND: Supplier induced demand (SID) indicates the case when doctors increase the demand of the patients, following their (physicians') own best interests rather than patients'. This may occur when asymmetry of information exists between suppliers and consumers. This study aims to confirm whether SID exists in the Korean setting, particularly by dividing SID into both 'induced demand effect' and 'availability effect.' METHODS: Induced demand effect and availability effect are differentiated following Carlsen & Grytten's theoretical frame which divides doctor density regions into high and low ones. RESULTS: Positive correlation between doctors' density and utilization of their services was found, which could be interpreted as 'availability effect.' CONCLUSION: The result suggests that additional medical use for additional doctor, particularly in the area of low doctor density, can be interpreted to occur to meet the basic medical need of the people rather than as a result of unnecessary induced demand. It is important to make more medical doctors provided and to distribute them appropriately across the region in such a country like Korea where doctor's density is relatively low.
Humans ; Korea* ; Sudden Infant Death

No abstract available.
Female ; Humans ; Male ; Sudden Infant Death/*pathology

PURPOSE: In the past 15 years in Korea, there have been findings reporting a remarkable improvement in reduction of neonatal, infant, and perinatal mortality rates. Consequently, this study was conducted to examine the trends of maternal mortality ratio and observe if it has also improved over time. METHODS: The trends of maternal deaths from 1995 to 2010 in Korea were analyzed based on the following materials: 1) surveys of maternal death rate conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (1995-2008), 2) statistical report of causes of death in Korea by Statistics Korea (2007-2010). RESULTS: The number of maternal deaths and the maternal mortality ratio declined steadily from 1995 to 2010 in Korea; however, they have increased slightly since 2008. The direct maternal mortality ratio was reduced when comparing the direct proposition maternal death ratio of 16:4 in 1995 and of 9.1:5 in 2010. The maternal mortality ratio tended to be higher in women from 35-39 years old age group, 40 years or older. Gangwon province had the highest maternal mortality ratio of all provinces in Korea. In 2009, the average maternal mortality ratio for the OECD nations was 10.1 while it was 10.8 for Korea, a little higher than the OECD average. CONCLUSION: Although the maternal mortality ratio improved by a significant reduction between 1995 and 2010 in Korea, the level is still about average for the OECD countries. It appears that even more efforts should be made to improve maternal mortality ratio compared to the progression in the areas of neonatal and infant mortality rates.
Cause of Death ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant Mortality ; Korea ; Maternal Death ; Maternal Mortality ; Perinatal Mortality

In 1969, the International Conference proposed a definition of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS): the sudden death of any infant or young child which is unexpected by history and in whom a thorough necropsy fails to demonstrate an adequate cause of death. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development redefined SIDS in 1989, requiring death scene investigation with age restriction under 12 months. These definitions, however, are not adequate for the countries having under-organized medico-legal system. In South Korea, no mandatory or customary complete medico-legal investigation is not performed in the sudden child death cases, including autopsy. As a consequence, SIDS can be diagnosed as 'unknown 'by non-pathologists. Even in autopsy cases, the pathologists can not collect proper medical history by themselves. Furthermore, scene investigation is just performed by police or omitted. Age in SIDS is a controversial problem in both upper and lower limit. So the authors concluded that the above two definitions of SIDS are not agreeable with the country such as South Korea. We proposed a new concept of sudden child death syndrome (SCDS), which means 'the sudden death of any infant including neonate with good condition after birth, or young child which reveals no definite cause of death by inspection or autopsy ', for the purpose of not unreasonable diagnosis and adequate research in the countries having under-developed postmortem investigation system.
Autopsy ; Cause of Death ; Child* ; Death, Sudden ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea ; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U.S.) ; Parturition ; Police ; Sudden Infant Death*

OBJECTIVETo investigate the mortality rate and the cause of death of hospitalized neonates.

METHODSThe clinical data of 480 neonates who died between January 2008 and December 2014 were collected. The mortality rates of neonates with different gestational ages, birth weights, sexes, and ages in days were analyzed. The abnormal perinatal factors, cause of death, and death grade were summarized.

RESULTSAmong the 41 910 hospitalized neonates, 480 (1.1%) died, and the mortality rates of preterm infants and full-term infants were 1.7% and 0.7%, respectively. The mortality rate of hospitalized neonates decreased from 1.4% in 2008 to 1.1% in 2014, and the decrease was more apparent in the preterm infants with a gestational age of <32 weeks and the neonates with a birth weight of <1 000 g. Among preterm infants and full-term infants, those with a lower gestational age tended to have a higher mortality rate, but post-term infants had an increased mortality rate. The infants with a lower birth weight tended to have a higher mortality rate. Male neonates had a significantly higher mortality rate than female neonates (1.31% vs 0.92%; P<0.05). Among the neonates who died, 61.3% had definite abnormal perinatal factors, including abnormal amniotic fluid (29.4%), premature rupture of membranes (16.9%), placental abnormality (16.9%), fetal intrauterine distress (14.0%), and abnormal umbilical cord (12.3%). Among the 480 neonates who died, 57 (11.9%) died within 24 hours after birth, 181 (37.7%) died within 2-7 days, and 242 (50.4%) died within 8-28 days. The three most common causes of death were infection, birth defect, and respiratory distress syndrome. The most common cause of death was respiratory distress syndrome in 2008-2011 and infection in 2012-2014. Respiratory distress syndrome was the most common cause of death in preterm infants with a gestational age of <32 weeks, neonates with a birth weight of <1 500 g, and neonates who died with 24 hours; infection was the most common cause of death in neonates with a gestational age of 32-42 weeks, neonates with a birth weight of 1 500-4 000 g, and neonates who died within 8-28 days. Neonatal asphyxia was the major cause of death in post-term infants. Inevitable deaths (grade 1) accounted for 54.4%, deaths that could be avoided under certain conditions (grade 2) accounted for 23.3%, and deaths caused by concerns about prognosis or economic reasons (grade 3) accounted for 22.3%.

CONCLUSIONSIn recent years, the treatment of neonates has gradually improved, and the mortality rate of neonates is gradually decreasing, especially in neonates with low gestational age and birth weight. Important measures for reducing the mortality rate in neonates include enhancing perinatal management, reducing abnormal perinatal factors, preventing infection, and increasing parents' confidence in treatment.

Birth Weight ; Cause of Death ; Female ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant Mortality ; Infant, Newborn ; Male

OBJECTIVETo study the under-five mortality rate and the causes of death in Zhejiang Province between 2000 and 2009 in order to provide a basis for reducing the mortality rate in the region.

METHODSBy stratified random cluster sampling, all the children under 5 years old from 30 sampling areas of Zhejiang Province between 2000 and 2009 were enrolled. The under-five mortality rate and the leading causes of death were investigated by descriptive analysis and Chi-square test.

RESULTSThe under-five mortality rate demonstrated a decreased trend in Zhejiang Province between 2000 and 2009, with the under-five mortality rate of 14.83‰ in 2000 compared to 9.49‰ in 2009. In 2009, the under-five mortality rate in rural regions was significantly higher than that in urban regions (9.14‰ vs 6.50‰; P<0.01). Compared with the resident population, there were an increased under-five mortality rate in floating population (12.12‰ vs 6.42‰; P<0.01). Preterm delivery/low birth weight was the top death cause in children under 5 years old. The top three causes of death in infants less than 1 year old were preterm delivery/low birth weight, congenital heart disease and birth asphyxia compared to drowning, traffic accident and falling in children aged 1-4 years.

CONCLUSIONSThere are differences in the under-five mortality rate between rural and urban children as well as between the floating and resident population in 2009. The leading causes of death in different age groups are different. It is essential to reduce the mortality rate by preventing preterm delivery, low birth weight and congenital malformations to infants and preventing accidental injuries to children aged 1-4 years.

Cause of Death ; Child Mortality ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant Mortality ; Infant, Newborn ; Time Factors

Cause of Death ; China ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant Mortality ; Infant, Newborn ; Maternal Mortality

This study aimed to analyze infant, maternal, perinatal, and fetal mortality statistics in the Republic of Korea (Korea), 2014. It was based on the open-access data available from the Statistics Korea website (http://kostat.go.kr/portal/eng/index.action). Recent trends in these vital statistics were also examined. The results of this study constitute a descriptive presentation and analysis of the national data. The number of infant deaths was 1,305 out of 435,435 live births in 2014, and the infant mortality rate was 3.0. The number of maternal deaths was 48. The maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 live births was 11.0. The maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 women of child-bearing age (15 to 49 years old) was 0.37. The number of perinatal deaths was 1,365, and the perinatal mortality rate was 3.1. The number of fetal deaths was 5,317. The fetal mortality rate was 12.1. The trends in those vital statistics in recent years were consistent except for a few findings, including a decrease in the maternal mortality ratio of pregnant women 40 years old and older and a change in the proportions of the causes of infant death, with a decrease in mortality due to neonatal respiratory distress and an increase in mortality due to bacterial sepsis. Although these vital statistics were generally consistent, some aspects varied by year. Pregnant women less than 20 years old should be monitored more intensively for their babies' health. Our findings can serve as basic data supporting the establishment of health policies by the Korean government.
Cause of Death ; Female ; Fetal Death ; Fetal Mortality ; Health Policy ; Humans ; Infant Death ; Infant Mortality ; Infant* ; Korea ; Live Birth ; Maternal Death ; Maternal Mortality ; Mortality ; Perinatal Death ; Perinatal Mortality* ; Pregnant Women ; Republic of Korea* ; Sepsis ; Vital Statistics

Investigating neonatal deaths in the toilets is challenging for forensic pathologists. During the postmortem examination, they should evaluate whether the baby was alive or a stillbirth and determine any causes of death, such as prenatal cause, infection, anatomical abnormalities, birth or other blunt force injury, drowning, and asphyxia. We retrieved two cases of neonatal deaths in the toilets and reviewed their autopsy findings and circumstances. However, findings from the postmortem examination were insignificant. Their lung examinations revealed non-expanded alveoli, and hydrostatic tests were negative. However, the cases cannot be confirmed as stillbirths because of the possibility that they might be alive for a short period of time after birth and then exposed into the water in the toilet or to accidental or non-accidental asphyxia or that they might have died because of neglect. These cases illustrate that the death scene and the associated circumstances should be meticulously and carefully investigated.
Asphyxia ; Autopsy ; Cause of Death ; Drowning ; Forensic Pathology ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn* ; Lung ; Parturition ; Perinatal Death ; Stillbirth ; Water

This is a statistical analysis based on the data of legal autopsies under 1 year of age performed at the Headquarters of the National Institute Scientific Investigation, requested from law enforcement agencies from 1996 to 2000. This report aims to analyse various aspects of 530 unusual deaths under 1 year of age in Korea, chiefly Seoul and its surrounding area. Male was 55.8% and female was 44.2%. Unnatural deaths were 39.6%, natural 53.4%, and the unknown 7.0%. Homicide occupied 66.7% in unnatural death and asphyxia was 41.4%, starvation and neglect 35.0%, and trauma 20.7% in homicide. Smothering was the leading cause of asphyxial homicide and accidental death. Natural death including perinatal disorders, sudden infant death syndrome and congenital malformations was the main cause of death in this age group.
Asphyxia ; Autopsy* ; Cause of Death ; Female ; Homicide ; Humans ; Korea ; Law Enforcement ; Male ; Seoul ; Starvation ; Sudden Infant Death