WhiteBook2_Part2 - 10

Methods
which to extract data on the amount of European Commission funding awarded per project.
Projects classified with a 'medical and health sciences' field of science category were eligible
for inclusion. All types of research (including basic science), and projects at all stages
(including terminated projects) were eligible for inclusion.
Projects related to non-digestive diseases (including cardiovascular, neurological, sense
organ, mental and respiratory diseases) were identified using disease specific EuroSciVoc
fields. Diseases with corresponding disease burden estimates were selected. Since
inflammatory bowel disease was the only digestive disease with a specific EuroSciVoc field,
research projects related to digestive diseases were identified by automated computer
assisted searching of project abstracts using digestive disease search terms, performed in R.
The digestive disease search terms were developed based on ICD-10 classifications to
facilitate comparison with disease burden estimates (see Appendix). Potentially relevant
projects that were identified by the computer assisted searching of abstracts were then
manually screened for inclusion based on the criteria that an aim of the research was to gain
a better understanding of the disease, or to directly reduce the burden of the disease.
Projects that did not mention the disease specifically were excluded.
European Commission funding per project was summed by disease, and analyses were
conducted to examine the relationship between European Commission funding for Horizon
2020 research projects and disease burden in the EU using DALYs (see above). Sensitivity
analysis examining the relationship using global DALYs was also conducted.
Since the projects relating to digestive diseases and other diseases were identified using
different methods, a sensitivity analysis was performed to compare the results obtained from
each method for inflammatory bowel disease (the only digestive disease with a specific
EuroSciVoc field). It was found that the amount of funding for inflammatory bowel disease
research derived from project abstract screening was 4% less than the amount derived using
the inflammatory bowel disease EuroSciVoc field. This difference may have occurred due to
the strict inclusion criteria applied to the project abstract screening which may have excluded
projects distally related to the disease, however a 4% difference was deemed acceptable to
make general comparisons and to provide a broad overview of the funding landscape.
Identifying Horizon 2020 projects related to digestive cancers fell outside the scope of this
study, however cancer related projects were relatively well indexed within the CORDIS
database compared to digestive disease projects. Research funding in relation to burden was
therefore examined for cancers with specific EuroSciVoc fields and corresponding DALY
estimates.
White Book 2: Part 2
7

WhiteBook2_Part2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of WhiteBook2_Part2