NIH Funding Trends in Rehabilitation among Cancer Survivors: Gaps and Opportunities

Research Objectives To describe trends in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded grants focused on cancer rehabilitation research and identify scientific gaps. Design Research and training project grants funded during Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 to 2022 focused on cancer survivorship and rehabilitation were identified using the NIH Research, Condition, and Disease Classification categorization for rehabilitation and an algorithm of cancer survivorship terms. The title, abstract and specific aims page of each grant were reviewed for eligibility. Eligible grants were double coded to extract grant characteristics. Setting The research utilized data from NIH Information for Management, Planning, Analysis and Coordination - II database. Participants This analysis included new research grants funded from FY 2015 through 2022. The year 2015 was considered baseline as Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation published findings from the 2014 NIH Subject Matter Expert Group on opportunities and gaps in cancer rehabilitation in 2016. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures The primary outcome measures were funding mechanism, year of funding, study population of interest, and classification of primary and secondary study outcomes based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. Results In addition to the main outcome measures, number of grants, funding dollars, scientific influence metrics, and study type according to the 2021 NIH Research Plan on Rehabilitation themes will be analyzed. Data extraction and analysis are ongoing and will be completed by July 2023. Conclusions The findings reveal that cancer rehabilitation is an emerging funding area, but gap areas persist. Future research should examine both the implementation and impact of cancer rehabilitation at the patient-, provider-, and system-level to advance cancer rehabilitation science, and improve outcomes among cancer survivors. Author(s) Disclosures Rachelle Brick is funded by the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program within the Division of Cancer Prevention at the National Cancer Institute. The presentation was prepared as part of the authors’ official duties as employees of the US Federal Government. The findings and conclusions are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the National Institutes of Health.