Working Paper: NBER ID: w15089
Authors: Seema Jayachandran; Adriana Lleras-Muney; Kimberly V. Smith
Abstract: This paper studies the contribution of sulfa drugs, a groundbreaking medical innovation in the 1930s, to declines in U.S. mortality. For several often-fatal infectious diseases, sulfa drugs represented the first effective treatment. Using time-series and difference-in-differences methods (with diseases unaffected by sulfa drugs as a comparison group), we find that sulfa drugs led to a 25 to 40 percent decline in maternal mortality, 17 to 36 percent decline in pneumonia mortality, and 52 to 67 percent decline in scarlet-fever mortality between 1937 and 1943. Altogether, they reduced mortality by 2 to 4 percent and increased life expectancy by 0.4 to 0.8 years. We also find that sulfa drugs benefited whites more than blacks.
Keywords: sulfa drugs; mortality decline; public health; medical innovation
JEL Codes: I10; I11; N32
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| sulfa drugs (L65) | maternal mortality (J16) |
| sulfa drugs (L65) | pneumonia mortality (I14) |
| sulfa drugs (L65) | scarlet fever mortality (I12) |
| sulfa drugs (L65) | overall mortality reduction (I14) |
| sulfa drugs (L65) | increased life expectancy (J17) |
| sulfa drugs (L65) | disparity in health outcomes (I14) |