Impact of economic crisis on cause-specific mortality in South Korea
Open Access
- 1 December 2005
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in International Journal of Epidemiology
- Vol. 34 (6), 1291-1301
- https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyi224
Abstract
Background Economic changes can be powerful determinants of health. In the late 1990s, South Korea experienced a steep economic decline. This study examines whether the massive economic changes affected trends in all-cause and cause-specific mortality in South Korea. Method Mid-year population estimates of 5 year age groups (denominators) and death certificate data (numerators) from the National Statistical Office of Korea were used to compute cause-specific age-standardized mortality rates before and after the economic crisis. Results All-cause mortality continued to decrease in both sexes and all age groups during the crisis. Cerebrovascular accidents, stomach cancer, and liver disease contributed most to this decline. A remarkable decrease in transport accident mortality rates was also observed. The most salient increase in mortality was suicidal death. Mortality from homicide, pneumonia, and alcohol dependence increased during the economic crisis, but these accounted for a small proportion of total mortality. Conclusions Short-term mortality effects of the South Korean economic crisis were relatively small. It appears that any short-term effects of the economic decline were overwhelmed by the momentum of large declines in causes of death such as stroke, stomach cancer, and liver disease, which are probably related to exposures with much longer aetiological periods. However, this study focused on rather immediate mortality effects and follow-up studies are needed to elucidate any longer-term health effects of the South Korean economic crisis.Keywords
This publication has 34 references indexed in Scilit:
- Regarding “Changes in Mortality after the Recent Economic crisis in South Korea”Annals of Epidemiology, 2005
- Changes in mortality after the recent economic crisis in South KoreaAnnals of Epidemiology, 2004
- Commentary: Plugging leaks and repelling boarders—where to next for the SS Income Inequality?International Journal of Epidemiology, 2003
- State of World Population 2003Published by United Nations Publications ,2003
- Reassessment of health effects of the Indonesian economic crisis: donors versus the dataThe Lancet, 2003
- Is Social Capital the Key to Inequalities in Health?American Journal of Public Health, 2003
- Changes in life expectancy in Russia in the mid-1990sThe Lancet, 2001
- SEOUL Suicide rate rises as South Korea's economy faltersThe Lancet, 1998
- Huge variation in Russian mortality rates 1984–94: artefact, alcohol, or what?The Lancet, 1997
- The Economic Crisis and its Impact on Health and Health Care in Latin America and the CaribbeanInternational Journal of Health Services, 1987