Health services and policy research in the first decade at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

BACKGROUND

Health services and policy research is the innovation engine of a health care system. In 2000, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) was formed to foster the growth of all sciences that could improve health care. We evaluated trends in health services and policy research funding, in addition to determinants of funding success.

METHODS

All applications submitted to CIHR strategic and open operating grant competitions between 2001 and 2011 were included in our analysis. Age, sex, size of research team, critical mass, season, year and research discipline were retrieved from application information. A cohort of 4725 applicants successfully funded between 2001 and 2005 were followed for 5 years to evaluate predictors of continuous funding. Multivariate generalized estimating equation logistic regression was used to estimate predictors of funding success and sustained funding.

RESULTS

Between 2001 and 2011, 80 163 applications were submitted to open and strategic grant competitions. Over time, grant applications increased from 327 to 1137 per year, and annual funding increased from $12.6 to $48.0 million. Grant applications from young male researchers were more likely to be funded than those from female researchers (odds ratio [OR] 1.40, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.95), as were applications from larger research teams and institutions with a large critical mass. Only 24.0% of scientists whose first funded grant was in health services and policy research had sustained 5-year funding, compared with 52.8% of biomedical scientists (OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.24-0.49).

INTERPRETATION

The CIHR has successfully increased the amount of health services and policy research in Canada. To enhance conditions for success, researchers should be encouraged to work in teams, request longer duration grants, resubmit unsuccessful applications and affiliate themselves with institutions with a greater critical mass.