Home > Estimates of Funding for Various Research, Condition, and Disease Categories (RCDC)

Estimates of Funding for Various Research, Condition, and Disease Categories (RCDC)

Table Updated January 15, 2009
This table displays the annual support level for various research, condition, and disease categories based on grants, contracts, and other funding mechanisms used across the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

At the request of Congress, the NIH embarked on a process to provide better consistency and transparency in the reporting of its funded research. This new process, implemented through the Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC) system, uses sophisticated text data mining (categorizing and clustering using words and multiword phrases) in conjunction with NIH-wide definitions used to match projects to categories. The definitions are a list of terms and concepts selected by NIH scientific experts to define a research category. Due to significant methodology changes, it is likely that annual totals for categories (year over year) will exhibit a noticeable one-time adjustment. The research category levels represent the NIH’s best estimates based on the category definitions.

The NIH does not expressly budget by category. The annual estimates reflect amounts that change as a result of science, actual research projects funded, and the NIH budget. The research categories are not mutually exclusive. Individual research projects can be included in multiple categories so amounts depicted within each column of this table do not add up to 100 percent of NIH-funded research.

The FY 2005 and FY 2006 data were produced from a reporting process historically used by NIH. The technical elements of the previous reporting process did not have the ability to produce uniform results and led to wide variability in the way research categories were coded. This process caused inconsistencies in reporting data. RCDC’s use of data mining improves the consistency and eliminates the wide variability in defining the research categories reported. To illustrate the effect of the RCDC methodology change, the table shows a side-by-side comparison view of FY 2007 levels produced with the prior method compared with levels that would have resulted if the new methodology had been implemented.

Total Number of Research/Disease Areas: 215
Click here for instructions on how to use the data table below.

Research/Disease Areas (Dollars in millions and rounded)	FY 2005 Actual	FY 2006 Actual	FY 2007 Actual NIH Historical Method	FY 2007 Actual NIH Revised Method	FY 2008 Actual	FY 2009 Estimated	FY 2010 Estimated
Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome	$72	$74	$48	$87	$82	-	-
Agent Orange & Dioxin	$20	$17	$18	$15	$13	-	-
Aging	$2,415	$2,431	$2,462	$1,879	$1,965	-	-
Alcoholism	$512	$511	$521	$443	$452	-	-
Allergic Rhinitis (Hay Fever)	$3	$4	$5	$7	$6	-	-
ALS	$42	$44	$39	$40	$43	-	-
Alzheimer's Disease	$656	$643	$645	$411	$412	-	-
American Indians / Alaska Natives	$140	$155	$141	$159	$142	-	-
Anorexia	$14	$15	$12	$8	$7	-	-
Anthrax	$183	$150	$105	$160	$134	-	-
Antimicrobial Resistance	$217	$221	$269	$209	$228	-	-
Aphasia	$3	$15	$14	$20	$22	-	-
Arctic	$22	$17	$19	$25	$22	-	-
Arthritis	$368	$355	$339	$222	$232	-	-
Assistive Technology	$138	$182	$184	$192	$215	-	-
Asthma	$289	$283	$294	$252	$246	-	-
Ataxia Telangiectasia	$10	$9	$11	$14	$13	-	-
Atherosclerosis	$322	$337	$347	$468	$460	-	-
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)	$107	$116	$107	$61	$60	-	-
Autism	$102	$108	$127	$93	$118	-	-
Autoimmune Disease	$589	$598	$587	$759	$762	-	-
Basic Behavioral and Social Science	$1,065	$1,062	$1,104	$1,119	$1,149	-	-
Batten Disease	$9	$8	$8	$5	$5	-	-
Behavioral and Social Science	$3,044	$3,001	$3,060	$3,157	$3,215	-	-
Biodefense 1/	$1,696	$1,766	$1,735	$1,735	$1,736	-	-
Bioengineering	$1,318	$1,546	$1,469	$2,610	$2,853	-	-
Biotechnology	$10,889	$9,974	$9,814	$5,344	$5,179	-	-
Brain Cancer	$157	$178	$193	$204	$194	-	-
Brain Disorders	$4,784	$4,732	$4,670	$3,592	$3,729	-	-
Breast Cancer	$700	$718	$707	$729	$726	-	-
Burden of Illness	$433	$508	$524	$60	$48	-	-
Cancer	$5,639	$5,575	$5,643	$5,549	$5,570	-	-
Cardiovascular	$2,333	$2,349	$2,370	$1,942	$2,027	-	-
Cerebral Palsy	$23	$18	$16	$30	$28	-	-
Cervical Cancer	$96	$97	$96	$67	$69	-	-
Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease	-	$7	$7	$9	$12	-	-
Child Abuse and Neglect Research	$40	$38	$38	$41	$30	-	-
Childhood Leukemia	$60	$53	$55	$50	$39	-	-
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome	$5	$5	$4	$4	$4	-	-
Chronic Liver Disease and Cirrhosis	$410	$408	$379	$253	$241	-	-
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease	$63	$67	$91	$72	$75	-	-
Climate Change	$57	$50	$47	$4	$4	-	-
Clinical Research	$8,719	$8,785	$9,116	$9,862	$9,625	-	-
Clinical Trials	$2,863	$2,767	$2,949	$3,422	$3,562	-	-
Colo-Rectal Cancer	$284	$269	$282	$273	$274	-	-
Complementary and Alternative Medicine	$306	$301	$299	$426	$430	-	-
Conditions affecting unborn children	$108	$103	$110	$81	$81	-	-
Contraception/Reproduction	$340	$335	$314	$460	$473	-	-
Cooley's Anemia	$42	$42	$34	$22	$22	-	-
Cost Effectiveness Research	$134	$143	$155	$50	$49	-	-
Crohn's Disease	$59	$64	$69	$47	$51	-	-
Cystic Fibrosis	$89	$85	$82	$78	$90	-	-
Dental/Oral and Craniofacial Disease	$415	$413	$417	$484	$463	-	-
Depression	$329	$335	$345	$398	$402	-	-
Diabetes 2/	$1,055	$1,038	$1,037	$1,069	$1,080	-	-
Diagnostic Radiology	$788	$712	$694	$1,046	$1,095	-	-
Diethylstilbestrol (DES)	$9	$8	$6	$5	$4	-	-
Digestive Diseases	$1,237	$1,252	$1,234	$1,460	$1,426	-	-
Digestive Diseases - (Gallbladder)	$7	$7	$6	$6	$7	-	-
Digestive Diseases - (Peptic Ulcer)	$18	$17	$23	$15	$14	-	-
Down Syndrome	$15	$14	$16	$16	$17	-	-
Drug Abuse (NIDA Only) 3/	$1,006	$990	$1,001	$1,001	$1,007	-	-
Duchenne/ Becker Muscular Dystrophy	$17	$18	$23	$23	$22	-	-
Dystonia	$19	$19	$16	$18	$15	-	-
Emerging Infectious Diseases	$1,872	$1,857	$1,816	$1,733	$2,098	-	-
Emphysema	$21	$17	$21	$30	$29	-	-
Endometriosis	$10	$12	$12	$12	$15	-	-
Epilepsy	$105	$103	$105	$145	$145	-	-
Estrogen	$183	$153	$164	$283	$245	-	-
Eye Disease And Disorders Of Vision	$715	$705	$714	$800	$796	-	-
Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy	$2	$2	$4	$3	$3	-	-
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome	$28	$29	$34	$32	$34	-	-
Fibroid Tumors (Uterine)	$15	$15	$14	$20	$16	-	-
Fibromyalgia	$10	$9	$9	$11	$12	-	-
Food Safety	$329	$316	$278	$230	$244	-	-
Fragile X Syndrome	$22	$20	$27	$22	$26	-	-
Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD)	$29	$33	$31	$17	$17	-	-
Gene Therapy	$355	$356	$325	$250	$249	-	-
Gene Therapy Clinical Trials	$31	$32	$31	$12	$16	-	-
Genetic Testing	$422	$417	$395	$402	$383	-	-
Genetics	$4,840	$4,878	$4,878	$7,000	$6,872	-	-
Global Warming Climate Change	$24	$58	$56	$1	$1	-	-
Health Disparities 4/	$2,699	$2,766	$2,744	$2,744	$2,614	-	-
Health Effects of Climate Change	$159	$157	$164	$258	$286	-	-
Health Services	$940	$929	$1,023	$730	$743	-	-
Heart Disease	$2,087	$2,087	$2,126	$1,126	$1,217	-	-
Heart Disease - Coronary Heart Disease	$397	$398	$382	$379	$367	-	-
Hematology	$1,122	$1,114	$1,128	$881	$894	-	-
Hepatitis	$179	$177	$174	$176	$180	-	-
Hepatitis - A	$5	$3	$2	$6	$6	-	-
Hepatitis - B	$39	$36	$42	$53	$53	-	-
Hepatitis - C	$121	$122	$108	$100	$93	-	-
HIV/AIDS 5/	$2,921	$2,902	$2,906	$2,906	$2,928	-	-
Hodgkin's Disease	$18	$21	$17	$12	$16	-	-
Homelessness	$24	$21	$18	$14	$13	-	-
Homicide and Legal Interventions	$12	$11	$8	$1	*	-	-
HPV and/or Cervical Cancer Vaccines	$16	$14	$20	$16	$19	-	-
Human Fetal Tissue 6/	$24	$23	$19	**	$40	-	-
Human Genome	$1,084	$1,065	$1,099	$1,246	$1,259	-	-
Huntington's Disease	$48	$48	$53	$49	$51	-	-
Hyperbaric Oxygen	$2	$2	$2	$3	$4	-	-
Hypertension	$371	$395	$390	$231	$263	-	-
Immunization	$1,438	$1,438	$1,342	$1,713	$1,734	-	-
Infant Mortality/ (LBW)	$504	$478	$464	$227	$246	-	-
Infectious Diseases	$3,188	$3,132	$3,059	$3,433	$3,575	-	-
Infertility	$40	$40	$51	$65	$73	-	-
Inflammatory Bowel Disease	$70	$72	$80	$74	$81	-	-
Influenza	$164	$207	$271	$280	$204	-	-
Injury - Childhood Injuries	$26	$28	$27	$28	$26	-	-
Injury - Trauma - (Head and Spine)	$241	$233	$219	$164	$150	-	-
Injury - Traumatic brain injury	$87	$85	$82	$73	$59	-	-
Injury - Unintentional Childhood Injury	$22	$25	$21	$17	$15	-	-
Injury (total) Accidents/Adverse Effects	$353	$355	$403	$299	$299	-	-
Interstitial Cystitis	$26	$25	$23	$10	$10	-	-
Kidney Disease	$427	$434	$450	$531	$523	-	-
Lead Poisoning	$15	$15	$15	$13	$9	-	-
Liver Cancer	$82	$88	$90	$103	$89	-	-
Liver Disease	$454	$450	$423	$589	$562	-	-
Lung	$1,025	$978	$1,013	$1,169	$1,211	-	-
Lung Cancer	$289	$266	$249	$164	$169	-	-
Lupus	$89	$97	$84	$113	$126	-	-
Lyme Disease	$27	$24	$22	$26	$22	-	-
Lymphoma	$177	$170	$158	$186	$193	-	-
Macular Degeneration	$58	$60	$70	$135	$135	-	-
Malaria	$104	$98	$104	$112	$132	-	-
Malaria Vaccine	$44	$35	$36	$31	$32	-	-
Mental Health	$1,848	$1,824	$1,853	$2,061	$2,086	-	-
Mental Retardation (Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD))	$192	$188	$204	$305	$350	-	-
Methamphetamine	$43	$45	$45	$66	$67	-	-
Mind and Body	$152	$136	$133	$571	$567	-	-
Minority Health 4/	$2,404	$2,423	$2,407	$2,407	$2,396	-	-
Mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS)	$10	$10	$10	$8	$7	-	-
Multiple Sclerosis	$110	$110	$98	$149	$169	-	-
Muscular Dystrophy	$40	$40	$47	$58	$56	-	-
Myasthenia Gravis	$5	$9	$6	$10	$9	-	-
Myotonic Dystrophy	$6	$7	$8	$9	$9	-	-
Nanotechnology	$165	$192	$215	$257	$304	-	-
Networking and Information Technology R&D	$509	$423	$507	$959	$911	-	-
Neurodegenerative	$1,215	$1,217	$1,166	$1,579	$1,621	-	-
Neurofibromatosis	$17	$16	$13	$12	$14	-	-
Neuropathy	$51	$54	$59	$118	$121	-	-
Neurosciences	$4,902	$4,830	$4,809	$5,102	$5,224	-	-
Nutrition	$1,072	$1,039	$1,075	$1,327	$1,391	-	-
Obesity	$519	$594	$661	$595	$664	-	-
Organ Transplantation	$358	$363	$358	$187	$175	-	-
Orphan Drug	$1,228	$1,255	$1,158	$653	$645	-	-
Osteogenesis Imperfecta	$9	$5	$5	$8	$5	-	-
Osteoporosis	$191	$169	$164	$167	$183	-	-
Otitis Media	$15	$17	$15	$20	$18	-	-
Ovarian Cancer	$106	$102	$103	$89	$96	-	-
Paget's Disease	$6	$6	$4	$1	$1	-	-
Pain Conditions - Chronic	$229	$220	$224	$277	$279	-	-
Parkinson's Disease	$225	$208	$187	$143	$152	-	-
Pediatric	$3,210	$3,161	$3,173	$2,622	$2,771	-	-
Pediatric AIDS 7/	$279	$276	$262	$262	$241	-	-
Pediatric Research Initiative	$145	$141	$171	**	$209	-	-
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease	$4	$4	$3	$4	$3	-	-
Perinatal - Birth - Preterm (LBW)	$394	$374	$351	$181	$197	-	-
Perinatal - Neonatal Respiratory Distress Syndrome	$10	$8	$9	$23	$18	-	-
Perinatal Period - Conditions Originating in Perinatal Period	$429	$407	$387	$413	$449	-	-
Pick's Disease	$1	$1	$1	$3	$2	-	-
Pneumonia	$154	$145	$132	$105	$93	-	-
Pneumonia & Influenza	$317	$351	$405	$382	$295	-	-
Polycystic Kidney Disease	$25	$32	$36	$33	$41	-	-
Prevention	$7,100	$6,815	$6,729	$4,596	$4,623	-	-
Prostate Cancer	$373	$348	$345	$295	$290	-	-
Psoriasis	$6	$8	$10	$22	$8	-	-
Regenerative Medicine	$591	$614	$575	$697	$723	-	-
Rehabilitation	$325	$324	$344	$379	$403	-	-
Rett Syndrome	$6	$5	$6	$6	$9	-	-
Reye's Syndrome	$1	$1	$1	$0	$0	-	-
Rural Health	$199	$202	$208	$173	$170	-	-
Schizophrenia	$353	$364	$358	$220	$249	-	-
Scleroderma	$11	$11	$12	$12	$20	-	-
Septicemia	$42	$49	$49	$93	$95	-	-
Sexually Transmitted Diseases/Herpes	$252	$264	$288	$282	$245	-	-
Sickle Cell Disease	$91	$91	$94	$78	$80	-	-
Sleep Research	$189	$199	$190	$219	$225	-	-
Small Pox	$187	$149	$122	$142	$94	-	-
Smoking and Health	$533	$517	$534	$324	$310	-	-
Spina Bifida	$10	$11	$9	$14	$15	-	-
Spinal Cord Injury	$89	$66	$64	$90	$80	-	-
Spinal Muscular Atrophy	$15	$15	$11	$11	$10	-	-
Stem Cell Research	$609	$643	$657	$968	$938	-	-
Stem Cell Research - Embryonic - Human	$40	$38	$42	$74	$88	-	-
Stem Cell Research - Embryonic - Non-Human	$97	$110	$106	$120	$150	-	-
Stem Cell Research - Nonembryonic - Human	$199	$206	$203	$226	$297	-	-
Stem Cell Research - Nonembryonic - Non-Human	$273	$289	$306	$400	$497	-	-
Stem Cell Research - Umbilical Cord Blood/ Placenta	$18	$19	$22	$44	$46	-	-
Stem Cell Research - Umbilical Cord Blood/ Placenta - Human	$15	$16	$19	$38	$38	-	-
Stem Cell Research - Umbilical Cord Blood/ Placenta - Non-Human	$3	$4	$2	$9	$9	-	-
Stroke	$342	$342	$340	$288	$296	-	-
Substance Abuse 8/	$1,508	$1,490	$1,523	$1,636	$1,762	-	-
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome	$84	$77	$81	$25	$29	-	-
Suicide	$34	$32	$43	$52	$39	-	-
Teenage Pregnancy	$26	$21	$16	$24	$21	-	-
Temporomandibular Muscle/Joint Disorder (TMJD)	$20	$17	$15	$18	$19	-	-
Tobacco	$531	$515	$536	$325	$311	-	-
Topical Microbicides	$66	$88	$99	$92	$102	-	-
Tourette Syndrome	$13	$13	$11	$9	$8	-	-
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE)	$37	$35	$43	$50	$44	-	-
Transplantation	$545	$551	$534	$544	$519	-	-
Tuberculosis	$158	$150	$166	$188	$142	-	-
Tuberculosis Vaccine	$26	$22	$17	$23	$18	-	-
Tuberous Sclerosis	$9	$9	$12	$20	$20	-	-
Urologic Diseases	$576	$536	$526	$535	$534	-	-
Uterine Cancer	$39	$28	$22	$24	$16	-	-
Vaccine Related	$1,450	$1,449	$1,358	$1,659	$1,632	-	-
Vaccine related (AIDS) 7/	$511	$566	$597	$597	$556	-	-
Vector-Borne Diseases	$447	$464	$424	$478	$417	-	-
Violence Against Women	$22	$20	$24	$49	$45	-	-
Violence Research	$121	$113	$106	$190	$183	-	-
West Nile Virus	$43	$85	$69	$81	$39	-	-
Women's Health 4/	$3,551	$3,498	$3,470	$3,470	$3,514	-	-
Youth Violence	$69	$67	$60	$123	$115	-	-

[-]	Data is not available at this time. FY 2009 and FY 2010 estimates will be displayed upon transmittal of the President’s budget request or as otherwise directed by the U.S. Office of Management & Budget (OMB).
[*]	The minimum reporting threshold for a specific disease/condition is $500,000. Reporting of $0 does not indicate that no research is being conducted.
[**]	No methodology was identified for RCDC in 2007; therefore there is no data available under the “FY 2007 NIH Revised Method” column.
1/	Reporting for this category does not follow the standard RCDC process. Funding support data is consistent with reporting to the U.S. Office of Management & Budget (OMB). These are project listings only and non-project or other support costs associated with the annual total for the category are not included. More information on this area is available at http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/BiodefenseRelated/default.htm.
2/	Includes research funded from the Type 1 diabetes appropriation.
3/	Reporting for this category does not follow the standard RCDC process. Spending is reported consistent with U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) requirements (Only NIDA). More information on this area is available at http://www.nida.nih.gov/drugpages.html.
4/	Reporting for this category does not follow the standard RCDC process. This category assigns project funding according to populations tracked by gender or ethnicity. The databases used to track gender/ethnicity are complex and not currently compatible with the RCDC system.
5/	Reporting for this category does not follow the standard RCDC process. These are project listings only and non-project or other support costs associated with the annual total for the category are not included. More information on this area is available at http://www.oar.nih.gov/.
6/	Reporting for this category does not follow the standard RCDC process. This category uses a non-standard approach involving subject matter expert reviews of manually collected project listings.
7/	Reporting for this category does not follow the standard RCDC process. These are project listings only and non-project or other support costs associated with the annual total for the category are not included. More information on the budget associated with the category is available at http://www.oar.nih.gov/. Research reported for this category is also captured under the broader HIV/AIDS category.
8/	Reporting for this category does not follow the standard RCDC process. This category includes all spending reported under the Drug Abuse category as well as projects categorized under the broader area of Substance Abuse. These are project listings only. More information on this area is available at http://www.nida.nih.gov/drugpages.html.