Research output and the public health burden of cancer: is there any relationship?

Current oncology

X. Wei¹  J. Biagi¹  F.M. Patafio¹  S.C. Brooks¹  Y. Peng¹  C.M. Booth¹ 

[1] Queen’s University Cancer Research Institute

关键词: Research funding;    cancer mortality;    cancer policy;    clinical trials;    public health;   

DOI  :  10.3747/co.23.2935

学科分类：肿瘤学

来源: Multimed, Inc.

【 摘 要 】

PurposeThe relative distribution of research output across cancer sites is not well described. Here, we evaluate whether the volume of published research is proportional to the public health burden of individual cancers. We also explore whether research output is proportional to research funding. MethodsStatistics from the Canadian and American cancer societies were used to identify the top ten causes of cancer death in 2013. All journal articles and clinical trials published in 2013 by Canadian or U.S. authors for those cancers were identified. Total research funding in Canada by cancer site was obtained from the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation coefficients were used to describe the relationship between research output, cancer mortality, and research funding. ResultsWe identified 19,361 publications and 2661 clinical trials. The proportion of publications and clinical trials was substantially lower than the proportion of deaths for lung (41% deaths, 15% publications, 16% clinical trials), colorectal (14%, 7%, 6%), pancreatic (10%, 7%, 5%), and gastroesophageal (7%, 5%, 3%) cancers. Conversely, research output was substantially greater than the proportion of deaths for breast cancer (10% deaths, 29% publications, 30% clinical trials) and prostate cancer (8%, 15%, 17%). We observed a stronger correlation between research output and funding (publicationsr= 0.894,p< 0.001; clinical trialsr= 0.923,p< 0.001) than between research output and cancer mortality ( r= 0.363,p= 0.303;r= 0.340,p= 0.337). ConclusionsResearch output is not well correlated with the public health burden of individual cancers, but is correlated with the relative level of research funding.

【 授权许可】

Unknown