title: Birth statistics of high birth weight infants (macrosomia) in Korea.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The authors analyzed the trend from the birth-related statistics of high birth weight infants (HBWIs) over 50 years in Korea from 1960 to 2010.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used 2 data sources, namely, the hospital units (1960's to 1990's) and Statistics Korea (1993 to 2010). The analyses include the incidence of HBWIs, birth weight distribution, sex ratio, and the relationship of HBWI to maternal age.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The hospital unit data indicated the incidence of HBWI as 3 to 7% in the 1960's and 1970's and 4 to 7% in the 1980's and 1990's. Data from Statistics Korea indicated the percentages of HBWIs among total live births decreased over the years: 6.7% (1993), 6.3% (1995), 5.1% (2000), 4.5% (2000), and 3.5% (2010). In HBWIs, the birth weight rages and percentage of incidence in infants' were 4.0 to 4.4 kg (90.3%), 4.5 to 4.9 kg (8.8%), 5.0 to 5.4 kg (0.8%), 5.5 to 5.9 kg (0.1%), and >6.0 kg (0.0%) in 2000 but were 92.2%, 7.2%, 0.6%, 0.0%, and 0.0% in 2009. The male to female ratio of HBWIs was 1.89 in 1993 and 1.84 in 2010. In 2010, the mother's age distribution correlated with low (4.9%), normal (91.0%), and high birth weights (3.6%): an increase in mother's age resulted in an increase in the frequency of low birth weight infants (LBWIs) and HBWIs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The incidence of HBWIs for the past 50 years has been dropping in Korea. The older the mother, the higher was the risk of a HBWI and LBWI. We hope that these findings would be utilized as basic data that will aid those managing HBWIs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Byung-Ho
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Joo-Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.forename: Sung-Hoon
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Yong-Sung
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Kyung-Suk
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ji-Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Chong-Woo
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Bae