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Analyzing the impact of prenatal care on infant health: do we have useful input and output measures?

Author

Listed:
  • Sankar Mukhopadhyay

    (University of Nevada, Reno)

  • Wei Yang

    (University of Nevada, Reno)

  • Wai Lee

    (University of Nevada, Reno)

  • Jeanne Wendel

    (University of Nevada, Reno)

Abstract

Recent work raises questions about the input and output measures typically used to estimate the impact of prenatal care on infant health: self-reported prenatal care may generate biased estimates of the impact of prenatal care on infant health, and birthweight may be a narrow measure of infant health that leads to underestimation of the impact of prenatal care on delivery outcomes. We link data from a prenatal care clinic, the associated hospital and the relevant birth certificate records to analyze these measurement issues. We conclude that low birthweight is not meaningful measure of infant health for the purpose of estimating the relation between prenatal care and delivery outcomes. In addition, the discrepancy between provider-reported and self-reported care is substantial, the correlation between these two measures is low, and the estimated relationship between prenatal care and infant health is not robust with respect to reliance on self-reported vs. provider-reported care.

Suggested Citation

  • Sankar Mukhopadhyay & Wei Yang & Wai Lee & Jeanne Wendel, 2008. "Analyzing the impact of prenatal care on infant health: do we have useful input and output measures?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 9(22), pages 1-14.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-08i10005
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Baldwin, L.-M. & Larson, E.H. & Connell, F.A. & Nordlund, D. & Cain, K.C. & Cawthon, M.L. & Byrns, P. & Rosenblatt, R.A., 1998. "The effect of expanding Medicaid prenatal services on birth outcomes," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 88(11), pages 1623-1629.
    2. Nancy E. Reichman & Hope Corman & Kelly Noonan & Dhaval Dave, 2006. "Typically Unobserved Variables (TUVs) and Selection into Prenatal Inputs: Implications for Estimating Infant Health Production Functions," Working Papers 930, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Migration and Development..
    3. Manning, Willard G. & Basu, Anirban & Mullahy, John, 2005. "Generalized modeling approaches to risk adjustment of skewed outcomes data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 465-488, May.
    4. Conway, Karen Smith & Deb, Partha, 2005. "Is prenatal care really ineffective? Or, is the 'devil' in the distribution?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 489-513, May.
    5. Joyce, Theodore, 1999. "Impact of augmented prenatal care on birth outcomes of Medicaid recipients in New York City," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 31-67, January.
    6. Evans, William N. & Lien, Diana S., 2005. "The benefits of prenatal care: evidence from the PAT bus strike," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1-2), pages 207-239.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sankar Mukhopadhyay & Jeanne Wendel, 2008. "Are prenatal care resources distributed efficiently across high-risk and low-risk mothers?," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 163-179, September.
    2. Hope Corman & Dhaval Dave & Nancy E. Reichman, 2018. "Evolution of the Infant Health Production Function," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 85(1), pages 6-47, July.

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