Research output and the public health burden of cancer: is there any relationship?

F M Patafio, S C Brooks, X Wei, Y Peng, J Biagi, C M Booth

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.), 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

9citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed.

General practice-based cancer research publications: a bibliometric analysis 2013-2019.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2023
Observational
Randomized Controlled Trials in Lung, Gastrointestinal, and Breast Cancers: An Overview of Global Research Activity.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2022
Review
In Vitro Anticancer Activity and Oxidative Stress Biomarkers Status Determined byAntioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021
Article
Cancer, Clinical Trials, and Canada: Our Contribution to Worldwide Randomized Controlled Trials.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2021
Article
Anticancer Potential of Lichens' Secondary Metabolites.Biomolecules · 2020
Review
The role of dietary phytochemicals in the carcinogenesis via the modulation of miRNA expression.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2019
Review
Discrepancies between Canadian cancer research funding and site-specific cancer burden: a spotlight on ten disease sites.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2018
Article
Integration of conventional cell viability assays for reliable and reproducible read-outs: experimental evidence.BMC research notes · 2018
Article
Research Priorities and Resource Allocation in the Investigation of New Drugs for Cancer in Least Developed Countries.Journal of oncology · 2018
Review

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

F M PatafioDivision of Cancer Care and Epidemiology, Queen's University Cancer Research Institute, Kingston, ON;

S C BrooksDepartments of Public Health Sciences; Emergency Medicine and.

X WeiDivision of Cancer Care and Epidemiology, Queen's University Cancer Research Institute, Kingston, ON;

Y PengDivision of Cancer Care and Epidemiology, Queen's University Cancer Research Institute, Kingston, ON;; Departments of Public Health Sciences.

J BiagiDivision of Cancer Care and Epidemiology, Queen's University Cancer Research Institute, Kingston, ON;

C M BoothDivision of Cancer Care and Epidemiology, Queen's University Cancer Research Institute, Kingston, ON;; Departments of Public Health Sciences; Oncology, Queen's University, Kingston, ON.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThe relative distribution of research output across cancer sites is not well described. Here, we evaluate whether the volume of published research is proportional to the public health burden of individual cancers. We also explore whether research output is proportional to research funding.

methodsStatistics from the Canadian and American cancer societies were used to identify the top ten causes of cancer death in 2013. All journal articles and clinical trials published in 2013 by Canadian or U.S. authors for those cancers were identified. Total research funding in Canada by cancer site was obtained from the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation coefficients were used to describe the relationship between research output, cancer mortality, and research funding.

resultsWe identified 19,361 publications and 2661 clinical trials. The proportion of publications and clinical trials was substantially lower than the proportion of deaths for lung (41% deaths, 15% publications, 16% clinical trials), colorectal (14%, 7%, 6%), pancreatic (10%, 7%, 5%), and gastroesophageal (7%, 5%, 3%) cancers. Conversely, research output was substantially greater than the proportion of deaths for breast cancer (10% deaths, 29% publications, 30% clinical trials) and prostate cancer (8%, 15%, 17%). We observed a stronger correlation between research output and funding (publications r = 0.894, p < 0.001; clinical trials r = 0.923, p < 0.001) than between research output and cancer mortality (r = 0.363, p = 0.303; r = 0.340, p = 0.337).

conclusionsResearch output is not well correlated with the public health burden of individual cancers, but is correlated with the relative level of research funding.

Indexed as

cancer mortalitycancer policyclinical trialspublic healthResearch funding

Identifiers

PMID27122971

DOI10.3747/co.23.2935

PMCPMC4835015

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.