Repeatability of infant deaths in Korea

Area of Science:

• Demography
• Epidemiology
• Biostatistics

Background:

• Infant mortality is a critical public health indicator.
• Understanding patterns of infant death recurrence within families is crucial for targeted interventions.
• Previous research has explored risk factors for infant mortality, but familial recurrence patterns require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the repeatability of infant death within families using Korean fertility data.
• To identify associations in infant survival between consecutive and non-consecutive birth orders.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the World Fertility Survey for Korea.
• Applied the log-linear model to analyze infant survival patterns.
• Examined associations between survivorship of infants across different birth orders.

Main Results:

• A significant association was found in infant survivorship between any two consecutive births.
• No significant association in infant survival was observed between non-consecutive birth orders.
• A potential relationship was suggested between the survival of the first birth and the survival of the third or fourth birth order.

Conclusions:

• Consecutive birth order is a key factor in infant mortality recurrence within Korean families.
• Non-consecutive birth orders do not show a similar pattern of infant survival association.
• Further research is warranted to explore the suggested influence of early birth survival on later birth outcomes.