Survivorship science at the National Institutes of Health 2017-2021

Purpose To describe the characteristics of National Institutes of Health (NIH) cancer survivorship grants funded over the past 5 years and identify gap areas for future efforts and initiatives. Methods Research project grants (RPG) funded during Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 to 2021 focused on cancer survivorship were identified using a text mining algorithm of words from the NIH Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC) thesaurus with survivorship-relevant terms. The title, abstract, specific aims, and public health relevance section of each grant were reviewed for eligibility. Grants meeting the eligibility criteria were double coded to extract study characteristics (e.g., grant mechanism, study design, study population). Results A total of 586 grants were funded by 14 NIH Institutes from FY2017 to FY2021, and the number of newly funded grants increased each FY, from 68 in 2017 to 105 in 2021. Approximately 60% of all grants included an intervention study, and interventions most often focused on psychosocial or supportive care (32.0%). The most common primary focus of the grants was late- and long-term effects of cancer treatment (46.6%), and least often financial hardship. Conclusions The results of this portfolio analysis indicate overall growth in the number and breadth of grants over the last five years, although notable gaps persist. Implications for Cancer Survivors This review of current NIH grants suggests a need for expanded research to understand and address survivor needs to ensure that the over 18 million cancer survivors in the United States have optimal quality of life and health outcomes.