Health varies significantly from person to person. For example, one’s socioeconomic status affects their life expectancy: for people with lower income and education it is below average.

A new study suggests that early childhood health has a major impact on later life. To date, there has been little previous empirical research on the effect of childhood infections.

“We compared infections diagnosed in childhood with the person’s success later in life in labour markets,” says assistant professor Jutta Viinikainen from University of Jyväskylä School of Business and Economics.

The research group used the database of the Young Finns Study as the basis for their research. The data consists of cases of childhood infections as registered by hospitals. The researchers then combined this with data from Statistics Finland about the person’s education, employment and wage. All the people examined were born in the 1970s.

The infections examined were all somewhat serious: they were either the first or the secondary reason for an overnight stay at the hospital. The education level was measured using completed degrees and labour market outcomes using employment and wage.

“We found out that serious infections suffered in childhood have a connection with lower employment levels and wage,” says Viinikainen. “Childhood infections also increased the possibility for a person to become dependent on social security later in life.”

The researchers found no connection between childhood infections and adulthood health. The long-term differences in health between individuals therefore do not seem to explain the connection between childhood infections and lower position in labour markets.

“The biggest reason for a lower position in labour markets seems to be the lower education level caused by childhood infections,” Viinikainen says. “This is the case despite the fact that Finland has a public health care system often considered to be among the best in the world.”

Further information:

Associate professor Jutta Viinikainen, Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics

+358405767804

jutta.i.viinikainen@jyu.fi

Professor Petri Böckerman, Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics & Labour Institute for Economic Research

+358400913189

petri.bockerman@labour.fi

Reference: Viinikainen, J., Bryson, A., Böckerman, P., Elovainio, M., Hutri-Kähönen, N., Juonala, M., Lehtimäki, T., Pahkala, K., Rovio, S., Pulkki-Råback, L., Raitakari, O. & Pehkonen, J. (2020). Do childhood infections affect labour market outcomes in adulthood and, if so, how? Economics & Human Biology, 100857. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2020.100857.

The article is published open access.

The research was done in co-operation with researchers from universities of Jyväskylä, Helsinki, Turku and Tampere as well as University College London & Labour Institute for Economic Research.