Alignment of NIH Investment in Primary and Secondary Prevention Research in Humans with Top 10 Leading and Actual Causes of Death in U.S.

Introduction: Ischemic heart disease, lung cancer, and stroke were the leading causes of premature mortality in the U.S. from 1990-2010. Biomedical research is the bedrock on which the prevention of these premature deaths rests. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the largest funder of biomedical research in the world. The NIH’s Office of Disease Prevention analyzed the portfolio of primary and secondary prevention research in humans funded by NIH and compared it to the top 10 leading and actual causes of preventable death in the U.S.

Methods: ODP used a combined machine learning and manual coding process to analyze the prevention research portfolio funded by NIH from fiscal years 2012-2016. This process involved coding the top 10 leading and actual causes of death when they were the rationale, exposure, or outcome of a research study. These results were then compared to the ranking of the top 10 leading and actual causes of death detailed by Murray, et al.’s 2013 paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association titled, “The State of US Health, 1990-2010 Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors.”

Results: We will show preliminary results comparing the number of NIH-funded primary and secondary prevention research studies in humans to the top 10 leading and actual causes of death.

Conclusion: These results will highlight areas where NIH is supporting research in key areas of disease prevention and areas where there has been less support. To our knowledge, this will be the first snapshot of the investment of entire portfolio of NIH primary and secondary prevention research in humans in the top 10 leading and actual causes of death.