--- title: Healthiest Month to Be Born In: New Study Links Asthma, Heart Disease description: A new study identified 55 diseases associated with birth month canonical: https://time.com/3913045/healthiest-months-born/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-08T19:06:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:11.052Z article:section: Health og:title: This Is the Healthiest Month to Be Born In og:description: A new study identified 55 diseases associated with birth month og:url: https://time.com/3913045/healthiest-months-born/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Is the Healthiest Month to Be Born In twitter:description: A new study identified 55 diseases associated with birth month twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This Is the Healthiest Month to Be Born In, According to Science > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Filming Embryos Improves Chances of Pregnancy [Watch (HLS stream): Filming Embryos Improves Chances of Pregnancy](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1HDjrg7H.m3u8) (3:41)  _Published 2010-10-08. Just after Robert Edwards won the Nobel Prize for his In Vitro Fertilization work, a new study said careful video observation of the fertilization process improves chances for a successful pregnancy_  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Jun 8, 2015 7:06 PM UTC  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Jun 8, 2015 7:06 PM UTC [_Read an interview with the study’s author._](http://time.com/3913118/birth-month-disease-risk/) Your birthday may be more important than you think when it comes your health. Scientists at Columbia University used an algorithm to identify “significant associations” between the time a year a person is born and 55 diseases, including ADHD, asthma and heart disease. [The new study](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150608111557.htm), which was published in the _Journal of American Medical Informatics_ Association, concludes that people born in May have the lowest overall risk for disease, while people born in October have the highest. Though previous research had explored the connection between disease risk and birth season, this study confirmed 39 associations as well as laid out 16 new ones. Researchers looked at more than 1,600 diseases and 1.7 million patients treated in New York between 1985 and 2013 to identify the months most associated with asthma (October and July babies), ADHD (November babies, matching a Swedish study), and nine kinds of heart disease. They plan to replicate the study in other locations, to better identify the environmental factors contributing to such disparities. “It’s important not to get overly nervous about these results because even though we found significant associations the overall disease risk is not that great,” said Nicholas Tatonetti, the study’s senior author and an assistant professor at Columbia University Medical Center. “The risk related to birth month is relatively minor when compared to more influential variables like diet and exercise.” [_For more on the study, read an interview with Columbia’s Tatonetti here_](http://time.com/3913118/birth-month-disease-risk/)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3913045/healthiest-months-born/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3913045/healthiest-months-born/"},"headline":"This Is the Healthiest Month to Be Born In, According to Science","datePublished":"2015-06-08T19:06:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:11.052Z","description":"A new study identified 55 diseases associated with birth month","url":"https://time.com/3913045/healthiest-months-born/","keywords":["Research","Heart Disease","ADHD","Asthma"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3913045/healthiest-months-born/","name":"This Is the Healthiest Month to Be Born In, According to Science"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Filming Embryos Improves Chances of Pregnancy","description":"Just after Robert Edwards won the Nobel Prize for his In Vitro Fertilization work, a new study said careful video observation of the fertilization process improves chances for a successful pregnancy","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/1HDjrg7H/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2010-10-08T20:58:46.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1HDjrg7H.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3913045/healthiest-months-born/","duration":"PT3M41S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3913045/healthiest-months-born/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```