How health research benefits society
Health research has one main goal: to better public health.(1) It finds new ways to diagnose, treat, and prevent disease.(2) It can strengthen current knowledge, evaluate it,(3) or add to it.
Health research is a valuable tool. It helps doctors learn trends in disease and risks,(4) like infection rates or how contagious a disease is. It also studies how useful treatments and medicines are in other conditions like cancer and heart disease.
Health research can lead to:
- New medicines and treatments
- Improving current treatments
- Correcting mistakes that misinform doctors
- Proving current approaches work
- Learning if one standard of care is better than another
Learning from past mistakes
Health research is meant to benefit society. But it’s important to acknowledge previous harms. We don’t have to look far in our past to see examples of unethical experiments done in the name of science. The cancer cells of Henrietta Lacks(5) and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study(6) are two examples. However, with more oversight and laws in place, there are now stricter regulations to protect research volunteers.(7)
What are the benefits of health research?
People today enjoy many perks thanks to health research. Illnesses or conditions that once claimed many lives are no longer as deadly or debilitating. This is thanks in large part to vaccines, screening tests, medicines and therapies.
- Vaccines help prevent diseases(8) like polio and measles. They may also reduce the impact of others like the flu and COVID-19.
- Screening tests help find diseases and lead to earlier treatments. Cancer screening tests(9) now include:
- Colonoscopies
- Mammograms
- Pap tests - Antibiotics(10) treat strep throat, whooping cough, and more. They also prevent infections during medical procedures like:
- Open-heart surgery
- Ccancer treatment - Other drug therapies made certain conditions less severe, like:
- Arthritis, which is treated with corticosteroids(11)
- Multiple sclerosis, which is treated with cortisone(12)
- Diabetes, which is treated with insulin(13)
Where is health research headed?
Looking ahead, the National Institutes of Health pledged support to end the COVID-19 pandemic.(14) The US government, meanwhile, hopes to speed up scientific advances for all.(15) And the World Health Organization aims for one billion people with better health.(16)
Volunteers make it possible.
But none of this is possible without volunteers in research. Without volunteers, medical discoveries won’t happen.(17) Science won’t advance.
In the past , chances to take part in health research were limited to local universities or hospitals, but that’s no longer the case.(18) Today, there are online options — like ResearchMatch — to help.
ResearchMatch connects those interested in research with researchers recruiting for their studies. Anyone living in the United States, including Puerto Rico, can join. People of all ages and backgrounds are welcome. Visit ResearchMatch.org to learn more.
To learn more, please consider our other articles here.
References
1. NIH Clinical Research Trials and You. National Institutes of Health. Updated October 3, 2022. Accessed January 26, 2024. https://www.nih.gov/health-information/nih-clinical-research-trials-you/basics
2. Types of research studies: Part I — Introduction to health research. ResearchMatch.org. August 5, 2022. Accessed January 26, 2024. https://medium.com/researchmatch/types-of-research-studies-part-i-introduction-to-health-research-36d48c16b7d9
3. Grover F, Shroyer A. Clinical science research. The Journal of Thoracis and Cardiovascular Surgery. Published April 2000. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022522300151955#:~:text=Clinical%20science%20research%20studies%20may,patient%20preferences%2C%20and%20patient%20choices
4. Nass SJ, Levit LA, Gostin LO, editors. Beyond the HIPAA Privacy Rule: Enhancing Privacy, Improving Health Through Research. National Academies Press; 2009.
5. Martinez I. Who was Henrietta Lacks? Here’s how HeLa cells became essential to medical research. PBS News Hour. August 1, 2023. Accessed March 11, 2023. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/who-was-henrietta-lacks-heres-how-hela-cells-became-essential-to-medical-research
6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Untreated Syphilis Study at Tuskegee Timeline. Accessed March 11, 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm
7. Boone L. 3 Simple Ways to Acknowledge Research Participants. ResearchMatch.org. March 6, 2019. Accessed March 11, 2023. https://medium.com/researchmatch/3-simple-ways-to-acknowledge-research-participants-78352e108b07
8. A Brief History of Vaccination. World Health Organization. Accessed January 26, 2024. https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/history-of-vaccination/a-brief-history-of-vaccination
9. Cancer Screening Overview (PDQ®)–Patient Version. National Cancer Institute. Accessed March 4, 2024. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/screening/patient-screening-overview-pdq
10. Hutchings M, Truman A, Wilkinson B. Antibiotics: past, present and future. November 13, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mib.2019.10.008
11. Saenger A. Discovery of the Wonder Drug: From Cows to Cortisone. Clinical Chemistry. August 1, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1373/clinchem.2010.149120
12. Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Rare Disease Advisor. Accessed January 26, 2024. https://www.rarediseaseadvisor.com/disease-info-pages/multiple-sclerosis/#:~:text=By%201951%2C%20cortisone%20was%20the,term%20effects%20on%20the%20disease.&text=During%20this%20time%2C%20mitoxantrone%20was,the%20treatment%20of%20severe%20MS
13. Mudaliar S. The Evolution of Diabetes Treatment Through the Ages: From Starvation Diets to Insulin, Incretins, SGLT2-Inhibitors and Beyond. J Indian Inst Sci. February 21, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs41745-023-00357-w
14. National Institutes of Health. Overview of 2024 Executive Summary. Accessed January 26, 2024. https://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/pdfs/FY24/br/Overview%20of%20FY%202024%20Executive%20Summary.pdf
15. United States Department of Health and Human Services. U.S Department of Health and Human Services FY 2024 Annual Performance Plan and Report. Accessed January 26, 2024. https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/fy2024-performance-plan.pdf
16. World Health Organization. Programme budget 2024–2025. May 30, 2023. Accessed January 26, 2024. https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA76/A76_R1-en.pdf
17. Research Volunteers Make Discoveries Possible. ResearchMatch.org. September 21, 2021. Accessed January 26, 2024. https://medium.com/researchmatch/research-volunteers-make-discoveries-possible-a14ed9e2bb71
18. How to find a research study. ResearchMatch.org. October 23, 2023. Accessed January 26, 2024. https://medium.com/researchmatch/how-to-find-a-research-study-b6a584446462
