A Call for Research Questions: Help Us Identify Opportunities to Improve Care for Cardiovascular Diseases

I'm going to enter some. There are probably thousands of possibilities I've identified. Maybe I should enter them all.
http://www.pcori.org/blog/call-research-questions-help-us-identify-opportunities-improve-care-cardiovascular-diseases?

Building on our hallmark of engaging healthcare stakeholders in all phases of research, PCORI is excited to join the American Heart Association (AHA) in announcing a crowdsourcing challenge for clinicians and researchers across the country. We’re looking for the best ideas for new research questions that address difficult challenges identified by patients with cardiovascular diseases.

Proposed hypotheses should focus on questions that can be answered by comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER), which compares the benefits and risks of alternate healthcare methods. Submissions should use a precision medicine approach, which takes into account individual patients’ genetics, environmental factors, lifestyle, and other characteristics.
We’ll select four research hypotheses and give each of the winning submitters a $5,000 prize. And we’ll consider these research questions for future funding opportunities.
With this clinician/researcher challenge, we are continuing to test-drive a crowdsourcing model for engaging the healthcare community in identifying important research topics.

PCORI's Cardiovascular Disease Focus
PCORI has funded 48 patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness studies, totaling $178 million, related to heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).

These projects, representing about 9 percent of the research portfolio, include assessments of heart disease interventions, projects testing the effectiveness of decision-support tools, and research that addresses information and communication gaps that may lead to poor patient outcomes.

For more information, see our fact sheet and a list of CVD projects.

Taking Advantage of Patient Input

This contest follows up on a previous AHA/PCORI challenge issued to patients and caregivers to identify important dilemmas they have faced in seeking treatment for cardiovascular diseases. Entrants in the new contest must address one or more of the patient or caregiver groups identified by the previous challenge:

• Patients with congestive heart failure
• Nonelderly patients with coronary heart disease
• Patients who experience a stroke
• Patients with lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or other autoimmune conditions, who experience a stroke
• Elderly patients with aortic stenosis—a narrowing of the heart’s aortic valve that restricts blood flow
• Parents or caregivers of newborns with congenital heart disease
• Patients with atrial arrhythmia—an irregular heartbeat that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure, or other complications

Coming Up with Winning Hypotheses

What are we looking for in submitted research questions? Among the questions that can be answered by CER with a precision medicine approach, we prefer hypotheses with strong potential for research that improves care options for people with heart-health problems.
The deadline for entries, which must be submitted here, is Thursday, October 6, 2016.
Given the burdens that cardiovascular diseases impose on our nation—the AHA estimates that these conditions cost the nation $316 billion annually in healthcare expenses and lost productivity— there’s great need and opportunity to improve care. With the input from patients, caregivers, clinicians, and researchers, our organizations can make a lasting impact through research that improves treatment for heart disease and stroke.