Growth of digestive diseases research funds and investigators supported by the National Institutes of Health.

The object of this paper is to analyze the growth of the digestive diseases research community supported by the National Institutes of Health, based primarily on data from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), during the 10-yr period of fiscal year 1977 through 1986. During that period, research dollars have increased threefold (1.5-fold when corrected for inflation), whereas the number of grants supported by those dollars has increased only 1.5-fold. This increase is similar to that of the entire National Institutes of Health. A greater percentage of grantees now have multiple grants and the cost of multiple grants is greater on a per grant basis. One-half of the funds support the research of only one-fourth of the grantees. The number of competing applications sent to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases compared with those sent to the National Institutes of Health shows a smaller increase (26% vs. 40%), whereas more funds are being provided per grant. Ten of the 12 institutes within the National Institutes of Health are now reporting digestive disease research support, so that total support exceeded $200 million in fiscal year 1986. We conclude that the digestive diseases research community is growing very slowly.