Cancer and Accelerated Aging Research at the National Institutes of Health, 2013-2023: A Grant Portfolio Analysis.

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics of the NIH-funded grant portfolio focused on cancer and accelerated aging.

Methods: Research project grants focused on cancer survivors and aging trajectories that were newly funded during fiscal years 2013 through 2023 were identified by first using a text mining algorithm from the NIH Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC) system with cancer survivorship-relevant terms and then a list of aging-related terms that included aging, neurocognition, and physical function. Included grants were double coded to extract study characteristics.

Results: A total of 166 grants were identified, with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Institute on Aging (NIA) funding 62.0% and 23.5% of the grants, respectively. The number of newly funded grants rose from nine in 2013 to 27 in 2023. Overall, the majority were observational studies (65.1%); 45% included study samples of multiple cancer types. The most commonly examined outcomes were cognitive (54.4%) or physical (37.5%) functioning; 30% of grants incorporated an aging-related biomarker. Few grants focused on racial and ethnic minority (3.0%) or rural cancer survivors (2.4%).

Conclusions: This portfolio analysis showed an increase in the number of NIH-funded grants focused on cancer survivors and accelerated aging, but notable gaps are evident. Given the rapidly growing survivor population, many of whom will experience accelerated aging trajectories, there is a critical need to better understand accelerated aging phenotypes and mechanisms, so that those at the highest risk for adverse aging-related effects can be identified and interventions developed.