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NHLBI research has the potential to improve the health and quality of life for people with lung diseases. Lung diseases affect tens of millions of people. In the United States, more than 26 million people—including over 6 million children—have asthma, and nearly 16 million people have COPD.
NHLBI-supported research on asthma has led to more and better treatment and prevention options. We have funded studies on promising new treatments, provided better information about treatments for different levels of asthma severity, and discovered other differences between patients that may help health care professionals predict how patients may respond to treatment or how their disease may progress.
Research supported by the NHLBI has shown that certain treatments and lifestyle changes, such as quitting smoking, can help people with COPD stay more active and slow the progression of COPD. Current studies are looking at the potential benefits of treating COPD in its earliest stages. Research is also underway to develop medicines that can prevent disease progression.
The NHLBI supports research on many other lung diseases, including rare diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis, and lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM). Although rare lung diseases affect fewer people, the burden they place on those affected can be significant. The NHLBI also is committed to researching sleep-related breathing disorders, such as sleep apnea. Read Sleep Science and Sleep Disorders for more information.
NHLBI-supported research has made, and continues to make, significant progress in improving the diagnosis and treatment of lung diseases. We will continue these efforts, while also meeting additional challenges, such as finding ways to prevent lung diseases and reduce health disparities. In 2016, NHLBI released its Strategic Vision, which will guide the Institute’s research activities for the coming decade. Many of the objectives, compelling questions, and critical challenges identified in the plan focus on lung biology and diseases. Training the next generation of lung scientists is also a high priority for NHLBI.
Scientific advances have created opportunities to detect lung diseases in their earliest stages, before they cause symptoms, and to prevent disease progression. Our research will leverage these advances to develop and test interventions that could prevent those lung diseases from affecting a person’s quality of life or causing permanent lung damage.
Our research also seeks to address health disparities related to lung diseases. For example, minority and economically disadvantaged children who have asthma have significantly worse outcomes than white and wealthier children. The NHLBI is supporting research on new, community-level approaches to improve treatment outcomes and close this disparity gap.
The NHLBI is advancing lung disease research in many ways. Learn about some of NHLBI’s efforts to support research on asthma, COPD, and other lung diseases.
NHLBI’s Division of Intramural Research and its Pulmonary Branch study diseases that affect the lungs. Specific projects aim to answer clinically relevant questions using methods ranging from molecular-level studies to clinical studies of diagnostics, therapeutics, and interventions.
The research we fund today will help improve the Nation’s lung health. Our Division of Lung Diseases supports research on the causes, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of lung diseases. The Division also supports and coordinates NIH research on sleep through its National Center on Sleep Disorders Research.
Through NHLBI’s Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program, researchers will use data from studies focused on heart, lung, blood and sleep disorders to better predict, prevent, diagnose, and treat lung and sleep disorders based on a patient’s unique genes, environment, and molecular signatures. Learn more about NHLBI precision medicine activities.
The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) raises awareness about asthma as a major public health problem. Working with medical associations, voluntary health organizations, and community programs, NAEPP helps to educate patients, health care professionals, and the public about asthma.
AsthmaNet is a nationwide clinical research network that develops and conducts studies to explore new approaches for treating asthma from childhood through adulthood. AsthmaNet studies are being conducted in 13 states.
The NHLBI, with input from federal and nonfederal partners, developed a COPD National Action Plan to guide stakeholders nationwide in their efforts to reduce the burden of COPD. The NHLBI’s COPD Learn More Breathe Better® program seeks to increase the awareness and understanding of COPD and encourage people at risk to get tested.
The National Emphysema Treatment Trial (NETT) was a landmark study that clarified the risks and benefits of lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) to treat patients whose COPD is mainly emphysema. LVRS reduces the size of the lungs to make breathing easier. The NETT also helped identify which patients are most likely to benefit from LVRS.
The Centers for Advanced Diagnostics and Experimental Therapeutics in Lung Diseases (CADET) program stimulates the development of new treatments for lung diseases and sleep disorders. The first stage, CADET I, supported research on how lung diseases develop. The second stage, CADET II, is funding research on new drugs.
The Lung Tissue Research Consortium (LTRC) provides human lung tissues to qualified investigators for use in their research. The program enrolls patients who are planning to have lung surgery, collects blood and other clinical data from these donors, and stores donated tissue that otherwise would be discarded after the lung surgery. The LTRC provides tissue samples and data at no cost to approved investigators.
The Pulmonary Trials Cooperative brings together patients, researchers, and health care professionals from more than 50 institutions, with a common goal of developing new treatments and testing current clinical care practices.
The Molecular Atlas of Lung Development Program (LungMAP) is integrating many datasets to build a molecular map of the developing lung in both humans and mice. The program is helping advance lung research, in part through its web-based data resource, called BREATH, that allows users to access LungMAP data and findings.
NHLBI’s ARDS Clinical Trial Network (ARDSNet) has enrolled over 5,000 patients in 10 randomized controlled trials and one observational study. ARDSNet study results have improved ARDS survival, informed best practices for treating patients with ARDS, optimized methods for ARDS clinical trials, and collected biospecimens to support future ARDS research.
NHLBI’s Prevention and Early Treatment of Acute Lung Injury (PETAL) Clinical Trials Network consists of 12 clinical centers and one clinical coordinating center. From 2014-2021, PETAL will build on ARDSNet as it aims to test new treatments or approaches to improve clinical outcomes for patients at risk for or who already have ARDS.
The Biologic Specimen and Data Repository Information Coordinating Center (BioLINCC) centralizes and integrates biospecimens and clinical data that were once stored in separate repositories. Researchers can find and request available resources on BioLINCC's secure website, which maximizes the value of these resources and advances heart, lung, blood, and sleep research.
Newly published data from the Long-Term Oxygen Treatment Trial (LOTT) show that oxygen use is not beneficial for most people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and moderately low levels of blood oxygen. It neither boosted their survival nor...