Adverse birth outcomes among Korean Americans: The impactof nativity and social proximity to other Koreans

Abstract

In the past two decades, the size of the Korean American population has notably increased. Despite this, there has been little research on the perinatal health of this population. This paper examines which and to what extent maternal risk factors are associated with birth outcomes (prematurity and intrauterine growth retardation [IUGR]) among Korean Americans, particularly focusing on maternal nativity and residential proximity to other Koreans. The authors employ the National Center for Health Statistics Linked Birth/Infant Death Files for 1995-1997, pooled and linked with contextual information obtained from the 2000 Census Summary File 1 for seven selected states. Major findings, based on multinomial logistic regression models, suggest that maternal educational attainments and the status of prenatal care are strong predictors of adverse birth outcomes among this population. Although descriptive analysis indicates an elevated risk of adverse birth among U.S.-born Korean women, compared to their foreign-born counterparts, the control of prenatal care eliminates the effect of maternal nativity. Social proximity to co-ethnics, measured by the population size of Koreans in counties, has little influence on birth outcomes among Korean Americans.

Caregiver Decision-Making: Household Response to Child Illness in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…The utilization of biomedical care such as prenatal care, delivery by a skilled birth attendance, and childhood immunizations increases child health and survival (Cho, Song and Frisbie 2005; Chen, Xie and Liu 2007; Shah and Dwivedi 2011; Blum, Sharmin and Ronsmans 2006; Frankenberg, Suriastini and Thomas 2005). Willingness to utilize biomedical healthcare is associated with maternal characteristics previously discussed such as education and socioeconomic status (Kumar and Mohanty 2011).…”

Birth Outcomes of Koreans by Birthplace of Infants and Their Mothers, the United States versus Korea, 1995-2004

“…However, USA-born Asian women had better birth outcomes in their offspring compared to the foreign-born Asian women ( 11 ). For birth outcomes of the USA-born Korean infants, there are three previous studies ( 2 - 4 ). Mor and her associates examined birth outcomes in Hawaii in the period 1979-1989 ( 3 ).…”

“…These other differences in maternal status were not adjusted in their outcome analysis. Examining the USA-born Korean infants in the USA for the period 1995-1997, Cho and his associates found a higher rate of prematurity and intrauterine growth retardation in infants born to USA-born mothers, compared to non-USA-born mothers, but this difference disappeared when adjusted for the prenatal care status ( 2 ). However, this study did not report birth weight outcomes, namely very low and low birth weight, and mean birth weight.…”

“…Before then, it was difficult to study birth outcomes of Korean births in the USA. To the present, we are aware of only three studies on Korean birth outcomes ( 2 - 4 ). One study was limited to examining intrauterine growth retardation and prematurity by maternal nativity and not examined birth weight, or very low and low birth weight ( 2 ).…”

“…To the present, we are aware of only three studies on Korean birth outcomes ( 2 - 4 ). One study was limited to examining intrauterine growth retardation and prematurity by maternal nativity and not examined birth weight, or very low and low birth weight ( 2 ). Two other studies examined births in a single state, Hawaii and California, but birth outcomes in Korean births were not examined in detail ( 3 , 4 ).…”