New £50m funding call to tackle inequalities in cardiovascular disease
The NIHR is launching a new ‘Inequalities Challenge’ funding opportunity for cardiovascular disease (CVD).
The new funding opportunity aims to invest £50 million into innovative new research in CVD, aiming to tackle preventable causes of heart disease and its complications, save lives and reduce inequalities in this area across the UK.
The opportunity, supported by the British Heart Foundation, aims to generate high quality research to improve prevention, detection and monitoring of cardiovascular diseases. CVD contributes to a quarter of all deaths in the UK (26 per cent), more than 170,000 deaths annually, but does not affect everyone equally.
This NIHR call will focus on tackling inequalities in higher risk groups such as ethnic minorities and in deprived communities. It also seeks to address inequalities in CVD outcomes between women and men.
The consortium will bring together leading experts from across the UK over five years to deliver research and build the research community to drive a step-change in cardiovascular outcomes.
The announcement is among NIHR’s responses to delivering the Government’s health and growth mission and NHS 10-year plan, with fewer lives lost to the biggest killers, an NHS that is there when people need it and a fairer Britain where everyone lives well for longer. NIHR is looking to fund research that has tangible outcomes and impact within the next few years, harnessing our current knowledge and using innovation to ensure rapid progress.
Among UK’s biggest killers
CVD is largely preventable with modifiable risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, high cholesterol, obesity and physical inactivity. But deaths caused by CVD account for one-fifth of the life expectancy gap between the most and least deprived communities in England.
There is a gender gap with women not receiving the same care for heart attacks as men, leading to unnecessary deaths. Addressing undetected and poorly managed high blood pressure and raised cholesterol are key to preventing CVD and reducing health inequalities.
Around one in three people who have a heart attack and two in five people with cardiovascular disease are of working age.
Around 4 million UK people are estimated to be currently living with undetected or unmanaged hypertension. This is despite the availability of cheap and effective treatments.
Estimates suggest 17,000 heart attacks could be prevented, and £20 million saved in health care costs alone over three years, just by treating 80 per cent of undiagnosed patients.
Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care and CEO of the NIHR, Professor Lucy Chappell, said: “Cardiovascular disease is one the UK’s biggest killers, with substantial health and care inequalities, and a large longer-term disease burden on the NHS. It can be significantly preventable if people have the right early intervention and support.
“NIHR is calling for the research community and supporting organisations to join us in making a step change in this crucial area and find innovative ways to tackle this challenge to drive life-changing research, tackling these inequalities for the health and wealth of our nation.
“This work will integrate the three reform shifts of the health mission – from treatment to prevention, hospital to community, analogue to digital, and will provide an opportunity to drive economic growth for the country and support economic activity for individuals.”
Minister for Public Health and Prevention, Ashley Dalton, said: “Access to quality healthcare shouldn’t be determined by where you are born or how much money you have, which is why this government is committed to addressing health inequalities once and for all.
“Investing in research is a vital part of our mission to reduce lives lost to the country’s biggest killers, and this funding will give our brightest researchers the tools to help us tackle cardiovascular disease.
“As part of our 10 Year Health Plan, we are committed to a shift from sickness to prevention to enable everyone to live a healthy life for longer. We have trialled health checks available in the workplace and will soon be launching the pilot of the NHS Health Check Online, to help people understand their risk and take action to reduce it.”
Professor Bryan Williams, OBE, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer at the British Heart Foundation, said: “For far too long cardiovascular disease has helped fuel unfair disparities in life expectancy across the UK. It is unacceptable that where you live, your sex or your ethnicity can shape your chances of living a long life in good heart health. Better prevention and treatment of heart attack and stroke are key to driving down widening health inequalities we see across the country.
“We welcome this opportunity for the BHF to partner with NIHR to test bold, imaginative and collaborative strategies that will close the gap in health outcomes across the nation by better preventing heart disease before it starts.
“This significant research investment is designed to test new ways of delivering preventive healthcare nationwide, providing the care you need, when you need it, wherever you live, and whoever you are.”
Prevention and inclusion
The consortium will be made up of leading academic institutions and other partners with expertise in research, capacity building and engaging with diverse groups of people.
Relevant charities, patient groups, community groups and the life sciences industry will also be involved in the research, where appropriate. Key aims include reducing inequalities by:
Early detection and optimal management of hypertension and raised cholesterol particularly in higher risk groups, specifically the Core20PLUS population groups and younger age groups (responsive to current and future UK population needs specifically for those with multiple long-term conditions).
Equitable and affordable supported self-management and personalised prevention, leveraging wearables and other digital health technologies to reduce health inequalities including related issues such as data integration, access and digital poverty.
Innovative public health messaging and education including supporting sustained behaviour change to improve health outcomes specifically facilitating adherence and continuation of medication.
NIHR research returns over £13 to the UK economy for every £1 invested by the taxpayer. This comes from direct health benefits, profits to UK firms undertaking research and economic and social benefits due to stimulated private investment.
Every £1 of NIHR funding on these awards attracted an additional £4.91 from charities, industry and other sources into research based in the NHS and UK universities. NIHR collaborates with thousands of commercial organisations each year.
The funding opportunity is the second in a series of NIHR funding calls focusing on inequalities. The first - the NIHR Inequalities Challenge: Maternity Disparities Consortium - was announced last year following the first Challenge call. The targeted investment in themes of this kind means research in DHSC’s priority areas can be accelerated.
The first stage of the new funding opportunity - Fewer lives lost: Research consortium to prevent cardiovascular disease - is now open and closes on Wednesday 13 August.
Visit the NIHR Inequalities Challenge page for information about its challenges.
NIHR is already funding and supporting a number of studies into CVD. Similar examples include: