Reducing health inequities in the U.S. will require more ‘implementation research’ from the National Health, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), according to the recommendations of one of the Institute’s Think Tanks, published July 25 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

In order to better inform the NHLBI’s next generation of research aimed at addressing health inequities in the U.S., the Health Inequities Think Tank put forth several recommendations centered on how best to implement evidence-based interventions in at-risk populations. The Think Tank emphasized in their report that “a major focus of this effort is to transform health inequities research from simply the study of the problem to the study of interventions to eradicate them.”

Following their meeting, the Think Tank recommends that the NHLBI embrace broad and inclusive research themes that incorporate the macro and micro factors that shape health inequities; develop platforms for innovative transdisciplinary research that promote systems science approaches; develop networks of collaborators and stakeholders, and launch exemplary transformative studies; optimize the use of new data sources, platforms and natural experiments; and develop unique transdisciplinary training programs to build research capacity.

According to the Think Tank, “we have the knowledge to improve overall population health and well-being of communities, but more efficient and effective implementation is needed.” The authors add that “novel approaches and research platforms can be leveraged to facilitate implementation research on disparity reduction, especially community and behavioral interventions.” Such interventions will only further advance the otherwise modest progress seen in reducing disparity by ethnicity, socioeconomic status and geography, they explain.

Keywords: Ethnic Groups, Geography, Information Storage and Retrieval, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (U.S.), Research Report, Social Class, Secondary Prevention

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