Most Americans rate medical research as a high national priority

Sep 26 2005

Most Americans rate medical research as a high national priority and strongly support greater public and private funding, according to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), a theme issue on medical research.

However, recent opinion surveys indicate that Americans also are increasingly dissatisfied with the nation's health care system and think the national commitment to health-related research should be higher.

Lead author Mary Woolley, M.A., of Research America, Alexandria, Va., presented the findings at a JAMA media briefing on medical research.

Elected and appointed officials representing the public continuously shape policy affecting the conduct of health-related research and health care in the U.S., according to background information in the article. These officials pay close attention to issues that concern the health of the public. Medical researchers and funders of health-related research should be well informed of the public's attitudes toward research.

Mary Woolley, M.A., and Stacie M. Propst, Ph.D., of Research!America, Alexandria, Va., summarized 10 years of data gathered from national and state opinion surveys on public attitudes and perceptions about health care and health-related research. Data in the article were drawn from 70 state surveys and 18 national surveys commissioned by Research!America from 1998 through 2005. Most of the surveys had a sample size of 800 or 1,000 adults (range, 800 – 5,377). Participants were selected at random and surveyed by telephone interview.

In a 2005 poll, Americans ranked health care (28 percent), education (22 percent), and jobs (20 percent) as the most important domestic issues. That same year, the majority of interviewees (78 percent) said it was very important that the U.S. maintain global leadership in health-related research. More than half (55 percent) of Americans want more spent on research, and, most importantly, they are willing to pay for it.

The majority (67 percent) of Americans said they are willing to pay $1 more per week in taxes for additional medical research, an increase from 2004, when 46 percent said were willing to pay more for health research. When asked what type of research was more valuable--research to prevent disease or research to cure disease--nearly half (48 percent) said prevention research was more valuable.

Other Survey Results:

• Health care costs are a leading concern in terms of national priorities, with accelerating medical and health research rated as very important to 66 percent, somewhat important to 28 percent.
• 58 percent indicate that as the U.S. looks for ways to manage health care costs, the national commitment to health-related research should be higher.
• 60 percent of Americans say they do not believe the U.S. has the best health care system in the world.
• More than half (55 percent) of the public say they are currently dissatisfied with the quality of health care in this country, compared with 44 percent who reported the same in 2000.
• Many Americans (66 percent) say the U.S. is spending too little on public health research, and 64 percent say at least twice as much should be spent.
• A majority of Americans (58 percent) favor embryonic stem cell research, while 34 percent strongly favor it. Of the 29 percent of people opposed to stem cell research, 57 percent said their position was based on religious objections.

56 percent of Americans do not believe an abstinence-only approach to teen sex education will prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancies, while 39 percent believe it will.

"The understanding, support and engagement of the public are essential if the research enterprise is to continue to succeed. To ensure that success, stakeholders in research must commit to listening to the public and being responsive to their concerns. The concerns expressed by the public are to be expected in the conduct of research that seeks to chart the unknown. The research community should embrace every opportunity to engage the public in an effort to answer their questions and put a human face on research," the authors write. "The widespread public support for research and researchers is now, as it has long been, entirely consistent with public aspirations for better health and well-being, and for longer and more productive lives."