Wound research funding from alternative sources of federal funds in 2012

Abstract

Chronic wounds represent a major healthcare burden, costing $25 billion annually, and are associated with high mortality. We previously reported that cutaneous wound healing represented only 0.1% ($29.8 million) of the National Institutes of Health budget. This current study focuses on quantifying the contribution by federal agencies other than the National Institutes of Health for fiscal year 2012. Federal databases including USA Spending, Veterans Affairs, Tracking Accountability in Government Grants Systems, Health Services Research Projects in Progress, and Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, were searched for individual projects addressing wound healing. Twenty-seven projects were identified, totaling funding of $16,588,623 (median: $349,856). Four sponsor institutions accounted for 74% of awarded funds: Department of the Army, National Science Foundation, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality. Research projects and cooperative agreements comprised 44% and 37% of awarded grants. New applications and continuing projects represented 52% and 37%. Wound healing represented 0.15% of total medical research funded by the non-National Institutes of Health federal sector. Compared with potential impact on US public health, federal investment in wound research is exiguous. This analysis will draw attention to a disproportionately low investment in wound research and its perils to American public health.

Figure 1

Proportion of NIH and total federal funding versus annual healthcare cost of disease for chronic wounds, Parkinson’s disease, Lyme disease, and cancer. ^aApproximate costs for chronic wounds, Parkinson disease, Lyme disease, and cancer are $25 billion,(1) $14 billion,(10) $2billion,(9) $ and $124 billion,(11) respectively. ^bNIH funding for the FY 2012 was $30.69 billion. NIH funding for chronic wounds, Parkinson disease, Lyme disease, and cancer are $30 million, $154 million, $25 million, and $5,621 million,(17) respectively. ^c Chronic wound data per our report, historical data for Parkinson disease,(12) and cancer.(13) Lyme disease data not available.

Figure 2

Federal funding for biomedical research 2003–2011. Funding in millions of dollars. NIH funding according to (7) Other federal funding calculated by subtraction of NIH funding from total federal funding(18, 23)