Occupational Hazard? An Analysis of Birth Outcomes Among Physician Mothers
Are birth outcomes of physician mothers affected by their long work hours and physically demanding job? Using Texas birth data from 2007-2014, we compared birth outcomes between physicians and another highly educated group, lawyers, and between surgeons and non-surgeon physicians. Further, using a difference-in-differences framework, we examine whether a 2011 duty hour reform impacted the physician birth outcomes. We find that physicians have an increased incidence of low birthweight and small for gestational age infants, with the results driven by surgeons. We find evidence that duty hour reforms were associated with improved birth outcomes for younger physicians.
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