Duke 2008 | ASHE | Equity and Efficiency in Health and Healthcare

Asthma is the most commonly occurring chronic childhood disease in the United States and is the leading cause of hospitalization and missed school days. Using the Fragile Families data, I examine whether socioeconomic disparities in asthma can be attributed to differences in low birthweight and maternal inputs, including smoking, breastfeeding and well-baby visits. I find that when each of the inputs is modeled, smoking appears to be an important factor in asthma diagnosis and morbidity. Breastfeeding also is related to asthma diagnosis. Simple policy simulations suggest that increasing the price of cigarettes is one potential mechanism for reducing maternal smoking rates.