National, Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute support of cardiac arrhythmia research

Abstract

This contribution responds to the recent HeartRhythm article “State of the Journal 2016” describing changes in the number of new National Institutes of Health (NIH) arrhythmia research awards. We provide a wider historic view of NIH-supported cardiac arrhythmia research from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Cardiac arrhythmia applications and awards were identified in the NIH electronic Research Administration database by searching project text and the NIH-designated Program Classification Code, found at the top of each NIH summary statement and used to identify specific research areas. Award information was retrieved from the public NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool (RePORTER), which utilizes the electronic Research Administration database. Chen reported that the number of new R01 applications reviewed by the Electrical Signaling, Ion Transport, and Arrhythmias (ESTA) study section and later funded fell from a high of 34 in 2007 to 10 in 2014. He concluded that the decline in ESTA grant awards signaled reduced arrhythmia research funding likely to negatively impact basic science progress in this important public health area. We found that in fiscal year (FY) 2015, ~70% of the supported arrhythmia research did not involve human subjects and that only ~20% of the NIH competing cardiac arrhythmia applications were reviewed in ESTA, while 450 different basic science and clinical research study sections and special emphasis panels reviewed the remaining applications. Our data indicate that NHLBI is the primary steward of NIH cardiac arrhythmia research. NHLBI oversaw ~94% of all FY2015 arrhythmia research applications. Thus, this report focuses on NHLBI-supported arrhythmia research grants rather than those reviewed in ESTA.