The National Institutes of Health (NIH) invests less money in cardiac arrest research compared to other leading causes of death and disability in the United States, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association's Resuscitation Science Symposium 2019—November 16-17 in Philadelphia.
Researchers compared the amount of money the NIH awarded for cardiac arrest research in 2016 to funding awarded for other diseases such as drug-use disorders, diabetes and stroke. The NIH, the largest funder of medical research in the United States, does not report annual funding for cardiac arrest research. Study findings suggest the NIH investment for cardiac arrest research is low compared to research for other diseases. For every year of healthy life lost because of disease, the NIH invests $284 for diabetes, $89 for stroke, $53 for ischemic heart disease and $7 for cardiac arrest research, according to their analysis of DALY (Disability-Adjusted Life Year) data from the cardiac arrest registry to enhance survival and historical data from the Global Health Data Exchange.
"Cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States, and more research focused on resuscitation of cardiac arrest is needed to improve the health and lives of millions of Americans," said the study's lead author Ryan Coute, D.O., an emergency medicine resident in the department of emergency medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The researchers speculate that low funding may be due to an inadequate number of grant applications being submitted to NIH to study cardiac arrest. "We hope that our findings will encourage more investigators to submit high-quality research grants to the NIH. Additionally, our results may help inform funding agencies on how to best utilize limited resources to maximize public health benefit."
Provided by American Heart Association
