• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.143-166
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• 2000

This paper attempts to explore the relation between health care availability and child mortality among ethnic groups with different cultural traditions of sex preference. Micro-data from the 1990 Census of China for Yanbian and Xishuangbanna Prefectures are used. Based on the analysis of data for Koreans, Hans, and Dais in these prefectures, a new model explaining the relation between sex preference, health care. and differentials in child mortality is proposed in this paper. In societies, where health care is easily available, the level of child mortality is not likely to be a function of sex preference. In societies where there is little availability of health care, members of ethnic groups with strong sex preference do whatever possible to assure survival of their children of the preferred sex. But actions to assure survival of children of the sex not preferred by their parents depend on the costs involved and other considerations. Therefore, the level of child mortality for the preferred sex is likely to be substantially lower than that of the not-preferred sex. However, as availability of health care improves and the cost of obtaining health care becomes lower, survival of children of the not-preferred sex are likely to improve. It is generally agreed that Koreans and Hans show strong son preference, while Dais have cultural traditions of daughter preference. In Yanbian, where virtually all children receive health care whenever it is needed, Korean females and Han females show lower child mortality than their male counterparts, although the difference is not found to be significant for Koreans. In Xishuangbanna, where there is little availability of health care, Dai males show markedly higher child mortality than Dai females, and Han females have higher child mortality than Han males. However, small improvements in the availability of health care in Xishuangbanna translate into substantial improvements in survival of male children for Dais, and survival of female children for Hans.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.184-228
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• 1998

This study reviews the relationship between son preference and fertility behavior, and infant and chlid mortality in the context of fertility and mortality decline. In Korea the situation reveals that fertility can decline to a very low level even in the presence of strong son preference, but son preference has certain effects on fertility and childhood mortality. The effect of son preference on fertility increased as the level of fertility declined. Our findings show that son preference causes excess female childhood mortality both directly and indirectly through fertility. Also, in Korea, the analysis reveals that female children suffer excessively high level of mortality and part of the excess mortality is due to parents' behavior on family building related to the effort to secure the birth of a son.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.329-335
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• 2019

Annually, millions of children die from respiratory virus infections. Human rhinovirus (HRV) is a causative agent of severe respiratory infections in young, elderly, and asthmatic patients with weak immunity. In this study, 9,010 respiratory virus specimens were collected from January 2012 to December 2018 at Dankook University Hospital, Cheonan and examined by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Twelve respiratory viruses were detected. The mean detection rate was 21.3% (N=1,920/9,010), and the mean age of HRV-positive patients was 6.5 years (median age: 1.6 years, range: 0.0~96.0). The detection rate was the highest in July (32.4%) and the lowest in February (8.3%). When the detection rate was analyzed by age group, the detection rate was the second highest in patients aged 10~19 years. The co-infection rate of HRV was 35.3%, and the most common combination was with Adenovirus. Respiratory virus infections are known to occur in children and elderly people with weak immunity. However, in this study, the detection rate was second highest in patients aged 10~19 years. Indeed, the detection rate in this age group was more than 15%, except in January and February. These results suggested that steady-state studies on the infection patterns of HRV are required.