Study shows major pain research funding decline at NIH

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Study shows major pain research funding decline at NIH

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-12/aps-ssm121008.php

Funding for pain research is declining sharply, more than 9 percent a

year since 2003, according to a new study published in The Journal of

Pain. Pain research, as a result, now accounts for only 0.6 percent

of all grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH),

despite the high prevalence of chronic pain in the U.S.

" This startling finding shows the government's meager investment in

pain research is seriously out of proportion with the widespread

chronic pain incidence in our society, which is estimated at one in

four Americans and accounts for more than 20 percent of all physician

office visits, " said E. Inturrisi, president of the American

Pain Society and professor of pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medical

College, New York. " And this disparity is not attributable to years

of budget cuts at NIH because the Journal of Pain study clearly shows

pain research has a higher percentage decline than the overall NIH

budget. So the drop in agency funding has not affected all research

areas equally. "

University of Utah researchers led by H. Bradshaw, PhD of the

university's pain research center, analyzed data about NIH grant

awards from 2003 through 2007 for pain and compared pain research

funding with dollars allocated for nausea and dyspnea, a breathing

disorder. A previous study authored by Bradshaw, also published in

The Journal of Pain in 2005, found that less than one percent of all

NIH funding in 2003 was for research having a primary emphasis on

pain. The current study shows that five years later pain research is

still a low priority at NIH.

Noting that overall budget pressures in Washington have led to an

unprecedented recession in funding for biomedical research, the

authors said: " With decreased funding for research and continuing

needs for resources to support national security and military

efforts, major natural disasters and uncertain economic status,

competition for limited research funds will intensify. The ability to

track funding patterns becomes increasingly important for policy

making decisions. "

Inturrisi said APS has given financial support for the group's

ongoing monitoring of NIH funding for pain research. " Our goal is to

provide policy makers with an objective and verifiable classification

tool for measuring grant awards and funding trends to help determine

if NIH research dollars are being directed where the scientific and

clinical need is most compelling, " said Inturrisi. " Untreated and

undertreated pain is the nation's most pervasive health problem and

it's getting worse as the population ages. Pain research is the key

for learning more about pain mechanisms and possible new treatments,

but it is difficult to make significant progress if pain studies

comprise just half of one percent of all NIH research grants, " he

added.

The study also reported that a review of all records for primary

research for nausea and dyspnea, revealed that, unlike pain research

funding trends, grants for those conditions increased steadily from

2003 to 2007. The authors concluded that even though there have been

unprecedented funding cuts at NIH, " additional measures should be

taken at NIH to improve the chances of funding for meritorious

applications proposing research on pain. "