Funding News - Research on Chronic Pain Management Sought

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) invites grant applications for research on the management of chronic pain across the lifespan. This announcement is made together with 8 other components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).* There are more than 50 million Americans who experience chronic pain and more than half of dying patients experience moderate to severe pain during the last days of their life. Pain is a frequent cause for doctor visits, with approximately 45 percent of the population seeking medical help for pain at some point in their lives. Pain is found across the lifespan and it is estimated that 4 out of every 10 people with moderate or severe pain do not get adequate relief. Potential areas for research include studies to: test interventions to remove barriers to effective treatment of pain for all patients including those who are underserved; determine factors associated with the under-reporting of chronic pain and/or reporting that a treatment is effective when pain is not relieved; develop and test measurement tools to assess chronic pain in patients who are unable to verbalize their degree or type of pain; further explore the relationship between painful procedures and future pain sensitivity in premature infants; test innovative methods for translating scientific advances in pain management into practice settings; identify which of the patient barriers cause or result in psychological distress; identify the patient and/or healthcare provider barriers associated with the underusage or undertreatment of pain specific for different cultural and ethnic/minority populations; determine whether sensitivity or reactivity to pain is affected by dementia in the elderly; study nociceptive pathways in older people with and without chronic pain using neuroimaging methods; and assess the medical/health consequences of abused/over-used pain medications. For more information, potential applicants should contact Dr. Cheryl Kitt, Program Director, Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience Cluster, NINDS, Neuroscience Center, 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 2116, Bethesda, MD 20892; telephone: (301) 496-9964; fax: (301) 402-2060; e-mail: kittc@ninds.nih.gov.

*For a full list of supporting NIH components and a more detailed description of this program announcement, please visit the NIH web site at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-01-115.html.