• Health Policy and Management
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.148-168
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• 2004

To investigate the effect of parents' social class on birthweight in Korea during the period of transition to a market economy, 1995-2001. Methods: All births resulting from pregnacies reported in 1995-22001(n=4,298,374) were studied with respect to social variation in birthweight. The results were adjusted for maternal age, parity, parents' education, gestational age, total births, the dead births among total births, the number of births in one delivery. Results: Between 1995 and 2001, mean birth weight was 3271g and low birth rate was 3.41%. Maternal education, faternal education, parents' occupation, the number of birth in one delivery, total births, gestational age, and the number of deaths among. total births were all independently related to the birthweight. Parents with lower education showed higher low-birthweight rates compared with parents with university level of education(OR: 2.16 for mother and 1.68 for father). Especially, mother's education showed stronger relationship with birthweight than fathers' education. The differences in birth weight by parents' social class, especially parents' educational level became stronger between 1995 and 2001. Discussion: This study suggests that the social differences of birth weight were increasing in order 1995 to 2001. Especially, this increasing tendency in variation in birth weight by social class was shown after economic crisis, 1998.