- Factors Affecting Breastfeeding Rate and Duration.
-
Won Ju Hwang, Woo Jin Chung, Dae Ryong Kang, Moon Hee Suh
-
J Prev Med Public Health. 2006;39(1):74-80.
-
-
-
 Abstract
 PDF
- OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study is to examine the factors affecting the rate and duration of breastfeeding. METHODS: We analyzed the data from the year 2000 Korea National Fertility Survey that was collected through direct interviews. In particular, the mothers who delivered their last child and the child was under 1 year of age from January 1998 to June 2000 (N=1,066) were analyzed via a logistic model to assess the factors affecting the breastfeeding rate. Among the study subjects, those who had initiated breastfeeding (N=740) were analyzed through Cox's proportional hazard model to evaluate the factors affecting the duration of breastfeeding. RESULTS: The multivariate logistic model showed that the delivery type and the baby's birth-weight have a statistically significant influence on the breastfeeding rate. Women who delivered their babies through Cesarean section were less likely than others to breastfeed. In contrast, the women whose babies weighed 2.5Kg or more were more likely than others to breastfeed. The results obtained from the survival analysis are as follows: the higher the mother's education level, the shorter is the breastfeeding duration. The mother's work status played a significant role in the early termination of breastfeeding. Women aged 35 or older showed a longer breastfeeding duration than the younger age groups, whereas the maternal age was not a significant factor in affecting whether or not a mother would breastfeed. CONCLUSIONS: Reducing the cases of operative delivery (Cesarean section) and low weight births, enlightening young and highly educated women on breastfeeding and improving the environment for breastfeeding on the job are important strategies to encourage women to breastfeed.
-
Summary
- Socioeconomic Costs of Alcohol Drinking in Korea.
-
Woo Jin Chung, Hyun Jun Chun, Sun Mi Lee
-
J Prev Med Public Health. 2006;39(1):21-29.
-
-
-
Abstract
PDF
- OBJECTIVES
We wanted to estimate the annual socioeconomic costs of alcohol drinking in Korea. METHODS: The costs were classified as direct costs, indirect costs and the other costs. The direct costs consisted of direct medical costs, indirect medical costs and subsidiary medical costs. Particularly, the medical costs and population attributable fraction for disease were considered to reflect the calculation of the direct medical costs. The indirect costs were computed by the extent to which the loss of productivity and loss of the workforce might have occurred due to changes in mortality and morbidity according to alcohol drinking. The other costs consisted of property loss, administration costs and costs of alcoholic beverage. RESULTS: The annual costs, which seemed to be attributable to alcohol drinking, were estimated to be 149,352 hundred million won (2.86% of GDP). In case of the latter, the amount includes 9,091 hundred million won for direct costs (6.09%), 62,845 hundred million won for the reduction and loss of productivity (42.08%), 44,691 hundred million won for loss of the workforce (29.92%), and the other costs (21.91%). CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirms that compared with the cases of Japan (1.9% of GNP) and the other advanced countries (1.00-1.42% of GDP), alcohol drinking incurs substantial socioeconomic costs to the Korean society. Therefore, this study provides strong support for government interventions to control alcohol drinking in Korea.
-
Summary
- Out-of-pocket Health Expenditures by Non-elderly and Elderly Persons in Korea.
-
Sung Gyeong Kim, Seung Hum Yu, Woong Sub Park, Woo Jin Chung
-
J Prev Med Public Health. 2005;38(4):408-414.
-
-
-
Abstract
PDF
- OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the sociodemographic and health characteristics on the out-of-pocket health spending of the individuals aged 20 and older in Korea. METHODS: We used the data from the 2001 National Public Health and Nutrition Survey. The final sample size was 26, 154 persons. Multiple linear regression models were used according to the age groups, that is, one model was used for those people under the age of sixty-five and the other was used for those people aged sixty-five and older. In these analyses, the expenditures were transformed to a logarithmic scale to reduce the skewness of the results. RESULTS: Out-of-pocket health expenditures for those people under the age of 65 averaged 14, 800 won per month, whereas expenditures for those people aged 65 and older averaged 27, 200 won per month. In the regression analysis, the insurance type, resident area, self-reported health status, acute or chronic condition and bed-disability days were the statistically significant determinants for both age groups. Gender and age were statistically significant determinants only for the non-elderly. CONCLUSIONS: The findings from this study show that the mean out-of-pocket health expenditures varied according to the age groups and also several diverse characteristics. Thus, policymakers should consider the out-of-pocket health expenditure differential between the elderly and nonelderly persons. Improvement of the insurance coverage for the economically vulnerable subgroups that were identified in this study should be carefully considered. In addition, it is necessary to assess the impact of out-of-pocket spending on the peoples' health care utilization.
-
Summary
- Changes in Distributive Equity of Health Insurance Contribution Burden.
-
Hee Chung Kang, Eun Cheol Park, Kyu Sik Lee, Tae Kyu Park, Woo Jin Chung, Han Joong Kim
-
J Prev Med Public Health. 2005;38(1):107-116.
-
-
-
Abstract
PDF
- OBJECTIVES
We analyzed the changes from 1996 to 2002 in distributive equity of the contribution burden in the Korean National Health Insurance. METHODS: The study subjects were a total of 8, 923 employee households and a total of 7, 296 self-employed households over the period from 1996 to 2002. Those were the households meeting the two criteria as completing each annual survey and having no change in the job of head of the household during that period from the raw data of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey annually conducted by the Korean National Statistical Office. The unit of analysis was a household, and this was the standard for assessing the contribution that is now applied on a monthly basis. Deciles Distribution Ratio, Contribution Concentration Curve and Contribution Concentration Index were estimated as the index of inequality. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to compare the annual ability-to-pay elasticity of the contribution to the reference year of 1996 for three groups (all households, the employee households, and the self-employed households). RESULTS: For the index of inequality, the distributive equity of contribution was improved in all three groups. In particular, the employee group experienced a substantial improvement. Using multiple regression analysis, the ability-to-pay elasticity of the contribution in the employee group significantly increased ( beta=0.232, p< 0.0001) in the year 2002 as compared to the reference year of 1996. The elasticity in the self-employed group also significantly increased ( beta=0.186, p< 0.05), although its change was smaller than that in the employee group. CONCLUSIONS: The employee group had a greater improvement for the distributive equity of the contribution burden than the self-employed group. Within the observation period, there were two important integration reforms: one was the integration of 227 self-employed societies in 1998 and the other was the integration of 139 employee societies in 2000. We expected that the equity of the contribution burden would be improved for the self-employed group since the integration reform of 1998. However, it was not improved for the self-employed group until the year 2000. This result suggests that capturing exactly the beneficiaries' ability-to-pay such as income is the precedent for distributive equity of the contribution burden, although a more sophisticated imposition standard of contribution is needed.
-
Summary
- Association of Drinking Patterns and Health Characteristics with Beverage Preference.
-
Jee Jeon Yi, Heechoul Ohrr, Sang Wook Yi, Woo Jin Chung
-
J Prev Med Public Health. 2004;37(2):133-140.
-
-
-
Abstract
PDF
- PURPOSE
To investigate the association between the type of preferred alcoholic beverage and drinking pattern and health characteristics. METHODS: A Cross-sectional study was conducted from 22 April to 3 May in 2002. 301 females and 699 males aged 13 to 59 were personally interviewed. Data on sociodemographic characteristics, drinking pattern and health characteristics were collected. 735 drinkers who were 19 year-old or over were included in analysis. Beverage preference was classified 3 categories: Beer drinker, wine drinker (including wine, makguly, chungju and yakju) and soju drinker (including soju and spirits). RESULTS: Beer drinkers were likely to be females. Compared to wine or soju drinkers, beer drinkers were less frequently drank, and consumed less total alcohol per week and less alcohol per 1 drinking among both male and female. Controlling for various confounders, beer drinker had significantly less total alcohol consumption per week, and alcohol consumption per 1 drinking than wine and soju drinker. CONCLUSION: Beer drinking were associated with less smoking in males and healthy drinking pattern in both gender than soju drinking.
-
Summary
|
KSPM
