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Objective: This study aimed to examine the long-term influence of having a child at risk of different developmental delays (communication, mobility, self-care, relating, learning, coping, or behaving) on parental labor force participation as the child grows. Method: A retrospective cohort was conducted using data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children survey, Waves 1–8 covering birth to 15 years of age of children. Multivariable logistic regressions were used to explore the odds ratio of mothers being out of the labor force at different children's ages. Cox proportional hazards models were utilized to identify the 'risk' of mothers returning to the workforce after leaving. All models were adjusted for the mother's age, education attainment, and employment status at time of birth, as well as marital status at the current wave. Results: There were 5,107 records of children, and 266 of them were at risk of any developmental delays at age 4–5 years. This sample represents 243, 026 children born in Australia in 2003/04. After adjusting for potential confounders, mothers of children at risk of each type of developmental delay (except mobility and self-care) had greater odds of being out of, and not returning to the labor force from children aged 2–3 to 14–15 years, when compared to mothers of children who are not at risk of developmental delays. Similar differences were found for fathers but were distinctly small and with narrower fluctuations, compared to mothers. Conclusion: Policies and programs funded by the government are greatly needed to support the mothers of children at risk of developmental delays. Significance: What is already known: Maternal labour force participation has been negatively affected by having a child with chronic health conditions, whereas paternal labour force participation is not significantly influenced. What this paper adds: Having a child at risk of developmental delays negatively influenced maternal and paternal labour force participation, where the influence on fathers was distinctly small and with narrower fluctuations during the 14 to 15 years of follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: In Australia, no therapeutic agents were subsidised for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary artery hypertension (iPAH), a rare progressive and severe disease with short life expectancy, until 1 March 2004, when bosentan (a dual endothelin receptor antagonist of high cost) was listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). Bosentan, in addition to conventional therapy, has been shown to slow iPAH progression and improve clinical and haemodynamic status and symptomatology, compared with placebo and conventional therapy. The objective of this paper is to describe the process of the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme listing for bosentan (Tracleer), which included a health economic model assessing the cost effectiveness of bosentan from a healthcare payer perspective, and a risk-sharing arrangement based on the establishment of a patient registry.Methods: The health economic model predicted the cost, hospitalisation and mortality rates of a population of iPAH patients treated with either the conventional therapy regimen used in Australia or bosentan plus the conventional therapy regimen. The model was implemented as a first-order Monte Carlo simulation with mortality modelled directly as the main clinical outcome. The impacts of proposed continuation criteria, restricting the ongoing use of the drug, were evaluated. Costs and outcomes were discounted at 5% and a sensitivity analysis examined the robustness of the key assumptions.Results: The model predicted that after 5, 10 and 15 years, the difference in average cumulative costs between bosentan plus conventional therapy and conventional therapy alone would be 116,929 Australian dollars (A dollars), A181,808 dollars and A216,331 dollars for each patient, respectively. There would be an associated increase in average life expectancy of 1.39, 2.93 and 3.87 years at 5, 10 and 15 years, respectively, with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio at 15 years of A55,927 dollars for each life-year gained. Removing the continuation criteria from the model increased the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio to A62,267 dollars (1996-2002 values).Conclusions: Economic modelling based on improved survival suggests bosentan to be a potentially cost-effective treatment for iPAH. However, the structure of the model and its inputs should be reviewed and updated as more data become available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]