Is the cost-effectiveness of an early-childhood sleep intervention to prevent obesity affected by socioeconomic position?

Objective: This study aimed to determine whether the cost-effectiveness of an infant sleep intervention from the Prevention of Overweight in Infancy (POI) trial was influenced by socioeconomic position (SEP).

Methods: An SEP-specific economic evaluation of the sleep intervention was conducted. SEP-specific intervention costs and effects at age 5 years, derived from the trial data, were applied to a representative cohort of 4,898 4- to 5-year-old Australian children. Quality-adjusted life years and health care costs were simulated until age 17 years using a purpose-built SEP-specific model. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios and acceptability curves were derived for each SEP group.

Results: The incremental cost-effectiveness ratios, in Australian dollars per quality-adjusted life year gained, were smaller in the low- ($23,010) and mid-SEP ($18,206) groups compared with the high-SEP group ($31,981). The probability that the intervention was cost-effective was very high in the low- and mid-SEP groups (92%-100%) and moderately high in the high-SEP group (79%).

Conclusions: An infant sleep intervention is more cost-effective in low- and mid-SEP groups compared with high-SEP groups. Targeting this intervention to low-SEP groups would not require trade-offs between efficiency and equity.