Disparities in grant funding for Chronic rhinosinusitis

Objectives/hypothesis: The objective of this study was to identify the level of grant funding for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) with the purpose of elucidating if disparities exist compared to other common chronic diseases.

Study design: Review of four major health research grant agencies from the United States (National Institutes of Health), Canada (Canadian Institute of Health Research), and United Kingdom (National Institute of Health Research and Medical Research Council).

Methods: Research operating grants awarded in the fields of CRS, asthma, diabetes, and dementia were identified using database-specific search strategies. Searches were limited to the previous 10 years (2004-2014). Comparator chronic diseases were chosen to have similar prevalence rates and low mortality risk. Research efficiency was calculated as the monetary value of grants awarded per paper published.

Results: There is a large disparity in the number of grants awarded for research in CRS (n = 196; $74,774,384), asthma (n = 13,226; $8,358,861,941), diabetes (n = 54,902; $47,282,739,735), and dementia (n = 34,569; $16,709,900,125). In terms of research efficiency, CRS researchers received eight to 12 times less financial support per paper published compared to those in our comparator conditions.

Conclusions: This study has demonstrated that over the last 10 years, CRS is disproportionately underfunded (∼$75 million) compared to other similarly prevalent chronic diseases such as asthma (∼$8.3 billion), diabetes (∼$47.2 billion), and dementia (∼$16.7 billion). We feel this justifies further research into identifying and reducing barriers to obtaining grant support for CRS.

Level of evidence: NA.