A methodological framework for establishing regional disease-specific health research priorities (the RDHRP Framework).

Abstract

Background: Setting regional disease-specific health research priorities is essential for guiding the development of the local health system and even the society through research. However, existing priority-setting approaches either rely heavily on opinions and lack transparent and reproducible procedures or demand intensive technical resources and are time-consuming. This study aimed to develop a structured, disease-specific, regionally adaptable methodological framework to address these gaps.

Methods: A multidisciplinary working group with expertise in public health and clinical research methodology was established to develop the framework, with consultation from an expert panel in clinical medicine and health research administration. Through iterative discussions, the group defined five guiding principles: gap-oriented, evidence-based, disease-life-cycle-covered, aligned with clinical practice realities and reproducible and transparent. Based on these principles, the analytical steps of the framework were proposed, refined through expert review and pilot tested using gastric cancer and other diseases.

Results: A framework consisting of seven sequential steps and a generic health matrix template was developed and named the Regional Disease-Specific Health Research Priorities (RDHRP) Framework: (1) defining the research scope; (2) developing a disease-specific matrix for data search; (3) retrieving and processing indicator-based evidence; (4) synthesizing evidence and linking performance gaps to generate actionable research priorities; (5) drafting the preliminary report; (6) consulting experts and stakeholders; and (7) reporting, dissemination and monitoring. Applied to gastric cancer, the RDHRP Framework consistently identified system-level performance gaps between China and countries advanced in this area, explored underlying causes, reduced subjective topic selection and improved the alignment of proposed research questions with measurable health system needs. The case study produced a focused set of research priorities for China in gastric cancer research: community-based surveillance systems; scalable techniques for early identification, screening and diagnosis; Helicobacter pylori prevention and eradication strategies; and molecular classification, target discovery and innovative therapeutics development.

Conclusions: The RDHRP Framework provides a transparent, reproducible and adaptable approach for generating regional disease-specific health research priorities anchored in objective evidence and causal reasoning. Future work is warranted to evaluate its utility in diverse global settings, recognizing that resulting priorities may vary depending on disease, regional context and evolving evidence.