Princeton study shows birthdays could affect infant health

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Podcasts Take Two

Jul 11, 2013

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Princeton study shows birthdays could affect infant health

Birthdays determine a variety of things, such as your horoscope and when you begin formal education. But more importantly, birthdays might also determine your health as a baby.

UNDISCLOSED, GERMANY - AUGUST 12: A 4-day-old newborn baby lies in a baby bed in the maternity ward of a hospital (a spokesperson for the hospital asked that the hospital not be named) on August 12, 2011 in a city in the east German state of Brandenburg, Germany. According to data released by Eurostat last week Germany, with 8.3 births per 1,000 people, has the lowest birth rate in all of Europe. Eastern Germany, which not only suffers from a low birth rate, also has a declining population due to young people moving away because of high unemployment in the region. Europe as a whole suffers from a low birth rate and a growing elderly population. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Birthdays determine a variety of things, such as your horoscope and when you begin formal education. But more importantly, birthdays might also determine your health as a baby.

Birthdays determine a variety of things, such as your horoscope and when you begin formal education.

But more importantly, birthdays might also determine your health as a baby. Economists at Princeton University found that babies conceived around May, and thus born around January and February, have a higher health risk.

The study is published in the latest edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and one of the economists in the study, Hannes Schwandt, joined the show.