Janet Currie Ph.D. '88, the Henry Putnam Professor of Economics and Public Affairs and director of the Woodrow Wilson School's Center for Health & Wellbeing (CHW), is featured in the December issue of Health Affairs for her collaborative research and findings on the impact of air pollution on the health of infants and children.

The article, “Quasi-Experimental Studies Suggest That Lowering Air Pollution Levels Benefits Infants’ and Children’s Health,” shows increasing evidence that exposure to some air pollutants – even at levels below regulatory thresholds – can adversely affect a child’s health.

Currie, who was joined in her research by Samantha Heep, an analyst at Cornerstone Research, and Matthew Neidell, associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, reviewed a number of rigorously conducted scientific papers which confirm the risk posed by air contaminated by pollutants – such as fine particulate matter, ozone or carbon monoxide.

Taken together, according to the research efforts, the scientific evidence so far suggest that polluted air can: trigger asthma attacks that can lead to a spike in hospital visits for young children; increase the number of children who must stay home from school due to breathing problems; and result in higher rates of infant mortality or premature birth.

The research suggests that lowering the thresholds for acceptable air pollution levels may be necessary to improve people’s health, especially among our most vulnerable – our infants and children.   The authors also suggest that policy makers should consider providing specific information to families and pregnant women about when and where the risk of pollution is highest, so that they can minimize their exposure or avoid it altogether.

Currie’s overall research focuses on the health and well-being of children. She has written about early intervention programs, programs to expand health insurance and improve health care, public housing, and food and nutrition programs. Much of this research is summarized in “The Invisible Safety Net: Protecting the Nation’s Poor Children and Families,” Princeton University Press. Her current research focuses on socioeconomic differences in child health, and on environmental threats to children’s health from sources such as toxic pollutants. She has contributed to multiple volumes of The Future of Children journal, a Wilson School-Brookings Institution collaboration, most recently as issue editor on a forthcoming volume about children with disabilities (Spring 2012).

Health Affairs is the leading journal of health policy thought and research. The peer-reviewed journal was founded in 1981 under the aegis of Project HOPE, a nonprofit international health education organization. Health Affairs explores health policy issues of current concern in both domestic and international spheres.

Access to the research and findings can be found here: http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/30/12/2391.abstract