Korean J Women Health Nurs.  2021 Mar;27(1):40-48. 10.4069/kjwhn.2021.03.15.

Comparison of the number of live births, maternal age at childbirth, and weight of live births between Korean women and immigrant women in 2018

• Kim SH
• Kim S
• Park B
• Lee S
• Park S
• Jeong GH
• Kim KW
• Kang SJ

• KMID: 2514703
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4069/kjwhn.2021.03.15

Abstract

Purpose
This study compared maternal age at childbirth, the number of live births, and the weight of live births between Korean women and immigrant women using statistical data from the Republic of Korea for 2018.
Methods
The analysis was conducted using data from the Microdata Integrated Service of Statistics Korea (https://mdis.kostat.go.kr/index.do).
Results
Korean women and immigrant women showed a higher age at childbirth in 2018 than in 2008. The percentage of newborns of Korean women with a birth weight of less than 2.5 kg increased slightly for 3 consecutive years from 2016 to 2018, whereas for immigrant women, this percentage increased in 2017 compared to 2016 and then decreased again in 2018. Very low birth weight (less than 1.5 kg) became more common among immigrant women from 2016 to 2018. Birth at a gestational age of fewer than 37 weeks increased both among Korean and immigrant women from 2016 to 2018. In both groups, the percentage of women who had their first child within their first 2 years of marriage decreased from 2008 to 2018.
Conclusion
Immigrant women had higher birth rates than Korean women, while both groups showed an increasing trend in premature birth. Greater attention should be paid to the pregnancy and birth needs of immigrant women, and steps are needed to ensure health equity and access in order to prevent premature births. It is also necessary to identify factors that affect preterm birth and birth of very low birth weight infants among immigrant women in the future.

Keyword

Birth weight; Emigrants and immigrants; Gestational age; Live birth; Newborn infant

Figure

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  Figure 1. Number of live births of immigrant women in 2008-2018 in Korea.

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  Figure 2. Percentage of the number of live births by age of Korean women and immigrant women in 2008 and 2018.

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  Figure 3. Distribution of length of marriage at the first childbirth in 2008 and 2018.

Reference

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