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The National Institutes of Health today announced the release of the first long-range plan for tackling digestive diseases, which affect as many as 70 million Americans each year.

Annually, about 10 percent of hospitalizations and 15 percent of in-patient hospital procedures are attributed to the treatment of digestive diseases. An additional 105 million visits to doctors' offices related to digestive diseases occur each year. These diseases are associated with significant mortality, morbidity, and loss of quality of life, and they frequently impact patients' ability to work or engage in everyday activities. More than $44 billion in indirect costs from disability and
mortality are associated with digestive diseases each year.

Opportunities and Challenges in Digestive Diseases Research: Recommendations of the National Commission on Digestive Diseases describes the impact of diseases ranging from foodborne infections to cancer and liver failure, and maps out priorities for research over the next 10 years.

"NIH-funded research has led to tremendous discoveries in peptic ulcer disease, viral hepatitis, and colorectal cancer. To build on these advances and break new ground, we’ll be looking for investigator-initiated projects and developing new initiatives that respond to the commission's recommendations," said Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the NIH. "Of course, bringing in new investigators and utilizing NIH’s peer review system to identify projects with high scientific merit will continue to be high priorities."

These themes include: (1) a focus on major scientific disciplines that are the engine for creating new knowledge; (2) approaches to the organization of research efforts, such as multidisciplinary basic or clinical research teams and networks, that are required for effective translation of laboratory findings for the benefit of patients with digestive diseases; (3) the development of important research resources that provide infrastructure necessary for modern scientific discovery; and (4) efforts that must be undertaken to ensure the availability of a highly specialized workforce to conduct digestive diseases research of the future.

This research plan of the National Commission on Digestive Diseases describes numerous, far-ranging, long-term goals and specific objectives to improve the health of the Nation through basic, translational, and clinical research that will lead to the discovery of improved ways to prevent, treat, or cure a diverse group of conditions that affect the GI tract, liver, biliary system, and exocrine pancreas. The goals, objectives, and challenges identified in this research plan represent a formidable challenge to all parties in the research process. It is hoped that these partners will use this research plan as a scientific guidepost to identify promising future research opportunities to address the burden of digestive disease. The NIH should continue to solicit broad stakeholder input as it oversees implementation of this long-range research plan for digestive diseases through the activities of coordinating bodies, such as the Digestive Diseases Interagency Coordinating Committee and other entities.

SOURCE

Labels: digestive diseases