Understanding & Combating Chronic Disease Burden: The Role of Trauma

NIH has introduced a highlighted topic inviting research on how trauma exposure contributes to long-term chronic disease risks. Trauma here can include experiences such as physical or sexual assault, combat, disasters, or violent crime. While much has been studied about the mental health consequences of trauma, there is a gap in fully understanding how these experiences drive downstream physical health issues—like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, as well as addiction and cognitive decline.

The topic calls for studies that:

• Identify who among those exposed to trauma are at greatest risk for enduring mental or physical health problems, using biological, psychological, environmental, or behavioral markers.
• Examine widely used universal trauma-informed approaches (e.g., Trauma Informed Care), determining whether they truly improve health outcomes compared to usual care or more targeted interventions.
• Investigate early “secondary prevention” opportunities—interventions after trauma exposure that might prevent or reduce the development of chronic illness.
• Explore mechanisms: How trauma triggers biologic, cognitive, behavioral, or social pathways that in turn lead to chronic physical or mental disease.

Institutes supporting this topic include NIMH (Mental Health), NIDA (Drug Abuse), Office of Research on Women’s Health, and NIA (Aging) among others. The timeline for this topic is from September 10, 2025 to September 10, 2026.

In sum, NIH is encouraging investigator-initiated proposals that deepen our understanding of trauma not just as a mental health issue but as a contributor to broader and long-term health burdens, with the goal of developing more effective prevention, risk-stratification, and intervention strategies.

Find out more at https://grants.nih.gov/funding/find-a-fit-for-your-research/highlighted-topics/13.