ASSESSING FUNDING AND PUBLIC INTEREST INTO MALE AND FEMALE INFERTILITY: ANALYSIS OF NIH REPORTER & GOOGLE TRENDS DATABASES

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

10-17-2023

Publication Title

Fertil Steril

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Infertility affects male and female patients equally within the United States of America. However, previous studies have alluded to disparities in research funding allocation to specific specialties and their applicable diseases or conditions. The objective of this study is to identify trends in funding for infertility research for Urology and Obstetrics & Gynecology departments in the United States of America. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) NIH RePORTER, (https://reporter.nih.gov), was queried to assess trends in research funding. The advanced search function was used to assess funding for the search term ‘Infertility’ for both Urology departments and Obstetrics and Gynecology departments. This study assessed funding to those departments within the United States of America, between 2004 to 2022. Additionally, Google Trends, (https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US), was queried to assess public health interest in the search terms ‘Male Infertility’ and ‘Female Infertility’, in the United States of America, between 2004 to 2022. Statistical analysis was performed to identify statistically significant differences, using RStudio Software. RESULTS: Departments of Urology had a median grant acquisition of ($460,599), while departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology had a median grant acquisition of ($300,930). The total amount of grant acquisition from the NIH for departments of Urology was ($22,523,049), while departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology had significantly higher amount of funding ($436,643,124), p-value <0.001. Interestingly, the average relative search volume for ‘Male infertility’ (39.55), was significantly higher than ‘Female Infertility’ (30.08), p-value <0.001. Additionally, both the average annual relative search volumes for ‘Male Infertility’ and ‘Female Infertility’ decreased significantly, from 69.42 to 55.17 (p-value <0.001) and 56.42 to 26.83 (p-value <0.001), respectively between 2004 to 2022. CONCLUSIONS: Currently, there is a great disparity in research funding to male infertility research conducted in Urology departments and female infertility research conducted in Obstetrics and Gynecology departments. Furthermore, it appears a disparity exist between male infertility and female infertility interest. Advocacy amongst healthcare professionals and community stakeholders should strive to achieve equity in research funding allocation and public health interest toward male and female infertility. IMPACT STATEMENT: There are significant disparities related to research funding and public health interest toward male infertility and female infertility. Health policy advocacy ought to be encouraged to increase research funding and public health interest toward male and female infertility in efforts to promote equity. SUPPORT: No External or Internal Funding

Volume

120

Issue

4

First Page

e267

Last Page

e268

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