Association between total Medicare costs and persistence of sleep problems
| Variable | Number of times sleep problems reported | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Never | Once | Twice | ||||
| Mean (SE) | Mean (SE) | Mean difference† (95% CI) | Mean (SE) | Mean difference† (95% CI) | p Value* | |
| B cohort (0–3 years) | n=3461 (75.2%) | n=933 (20.3%) | n=208 (4.5%) | |||
| MBS | 1509 (27) | 1670 (53) | 68 (−27 to 164) | 2097 (133) | 270 (46 to 494) | 0.007 |
| PBS | 75 (9) | 138 (27) | 42 (−22 to 108) | 130 (38) | −7 (−100 to 86) | 0.4 |
| Medicare total | 1584 (31) | 1807 (64) | 111 (−14 to 237) | 2226 (145) | 263 (6 to 519) | 0.01 |
| K cohort (4–7 years) | n=3754 (84.1%) | n=578 (13.0%) | n=128 (2.9%) | |||
| MBS | 837 (20) | 1054 (48) | 80 (−23 to 184) | 1348 (108) | 264 (92 to 436) | 0.002 |
| PBS | 69 (6) | 141 (23) | 26 (−17 to 70) | 237 (98) | 59 (−119 to 236) | 0.3 |
| Medicare total | 906 (23) | 1195 (61) | 106 (−17 to 231) | 1585 (179) | 322 (67 to 578) | <0.001 |
*Adjusted for family socioeconomic position, child gender, global health and special healthcare needs.
†Mean difference reported as the difference between each groups compared to infants/children who never had a sleep problem (reference group).
‡All figures are in Australian dollars (($A1=£0.65, November 2012).