NIH discusses ways to tackle digestive diseases

WASHINGTON The National Institutes of Health announced last week the release of the first long-range plan for tackling digestive diseases, which affect as many as 70 million Americans each year.

Opportunities and Challenges in Digestive Diseases Research: Recommendations of the National Commission on Digestive Diseases described the impact of diseases ranging from food-borne infections to cancer and liver failure, and mapped out priorities for research over the next 10 years.

"NIH-funded research has led to tremendous discoveries in peptic ulcer disease, viral hepatitis and colorectal cancer,” stated Griffin Rodgers, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases division of the NIH. “To build on these advances and break new ground, we’ll be looking for investigator-initiated projects and developing new initiatives that respond to the commission’s recommendations.”

An estimated 20 NIH institutes, centers and offices invested more than $1.4 billion in digestive diseases research in fiscal year 2008. Current studies focus on understanding the fundamental mechanisms of digestive system development and function, as well as basic, translational and clinical research on the digestive system in normal and disease conditions.

According to NIH, each year approximately 105 million visits to doctors’ offices are for digestive diseases, often driven by symptoms such as stomach pain, diarrhea, vomiting or nausea. The diseases cost the United States $100 billion in direct medical costs every year. Prescription drugs for diseases such as gastroesophageal reflux are among the most commonly prescribed medications in the United States.

The report emphasizes the importance of cross-cutting research, encouraging multidisciplinary efforts to advance understanding of causes and improve diagnosis and treatment of digestive diseases. The high-impact goals recommended by the commission include:

• Better understanding of basic biology of the digestive system;
• Improving the understanding of functional gastrointestinal disorders and motility disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome;
• Identifying additional infection-causing microbes;
• Improving treatments for the diverse diseases of the stomach and small intestine; and
• Developing more efficient ways to categorize diseases of the colon and rectum, among other goals.

The report can be found online at: http://www2.niddk.nih.gov/AboutNIDDK/CommitteesAndWorkingGroups/NCDD/FinalResearchPlanPosting.htm.