Risk Management Study for Preventing Population Decline in the Low Fertility Age

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to identify variation in pregnancy wastage prevalence by type and age among married women aged 15~44 in Korea. METHODS: The study data is based on 3% patient sample data extracted from the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service in 2011 and 2014. For analysis, ANOVA and t-tests were performed using the SAS program. All data was weighted. RESULT: The number of women experiencing pregnancy wastage in Korea was approximately 110,000 and 114,000 in 2011 and 2014 respectively, figures 20% higher than the equivalent numbers of births in both cases. Of wastage types, spontaneous abortion was shown to have the highest prevalence, while the 30 to 34 years category represented the highest prevalence among age groups. Test outcomes regarding age difference demonstrated that, in 2011, the average maternal age in the “other abortion” type was older than that for spontaneous abortion. Age was shown to have a significant effect on surgery status; surgery experience was associated positively with maternal age. CONCLUSION: In this study, we defined terms for pregnancy wastages, derived the diseases codes related to pregnancy wastages, and ascertained the status of pregnancy wastage among women in Korea. Consequently, we suggest that the problem of pregnancy wastage in Korea should be recognized not only as a personal, but also a community, social, and national issue.

Antiviral Activity of Corylus heterophylla Fisch Against Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus Infection

The porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) has recently been shown to cause huge economic losses in the global pork industry. Our results demonstrated that the extract dose-dependently inhibited the replication of PEDV and reduced the visible cytopathic effect (CPE). Treatment with C. heterophylla Fisch extract resulted in marked reduction of PEDVinduced cytokine and chemokine expression. The antiviral activity of C. heterophylla Fisch extract on PEDV replication was found to be primarily exerted at the early stages after infection. Taken together, our data indicate that C. heterophylla Fisch extract may be a good therapeutic agent for use against PEDV and also a potential candidate to be evaluated against other human and animal coronaviruses.