Federal funding for research on the leading causes of death among children and adolescents

Firearm injuries are the second-leading cause of death for US children and adolescents (ages 1–18). This analysis quantified the federal dollars granted to research for the leading US causes of death for this age group in 2008–17. Several federal data sources were queried. On average, in the study period, $88 million per year was granted to research motor vehicle crashes, the leading cause of death in this age group. Cancer, the third-leading cause of mortality, received $335 million per year. In contrast, $12 million—only thirty-two grants, averaging $597 in research dollars per death—went to firearm injury prevention research among children and adolescents. According to a regression analysis, funding for pediatric firearm injury prevention was only 3.3 percent of what would be predicted by mortality burden, and that level of funding resulted in fewer scientific articles than predicted. A thirtyfold increase in firearm injury research funding focused on this age group, or at least $37 million per year, is needed for research funding to be commensurate with the mortality burden.