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Prevention Research Centers


See Also:

Prevention Research Centers At A Glance 2004

PRC Web Site


Prevention research is the counterpart of biomedical or laboratory research. While biomedical research focuses on the best ways of diagnosing and treating disease, prevention research focuses on ways to keep people free from disease. Many chronic diseases—such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes—as well as injuries, poor pregnancy outcomes, and some infectious diseases are caused by behavioral and environmental factors that can be changed.

Prevention researchers look for strategies that help people alter the risk factors in their lives and in their communities. For example, researchers look for ways to prevent elderly people from falling or young people from engaging in risky behavior.

CDC’s Prevention Research Centers 

With FY2002 funding of $23 million, the Prevention Research Centers program is a national network of 28 academic research centers that engage communities as participants in research on preventing chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and arthritis.

The centers balance scientific rigor, community acceptance, and practical application to find ways of preventing disease and improving quality of life. The centers work in areas as geographically distinct as Harlem, the Southwest, and Appalachia, and with diverse groups such as women, adolescents, and the elderly.

In FY2002, two new research centers, the State University of New York at Albany and the University of Iowa, were added to the network.

The State University of New York at Albany will focus on people with diabetes in the greater Capital District of New York.  The University of Iowa will address poor nutrition and lack of physical activity among rural residents.

 



 
CDC’s Network of Prevention Research Centers, FY 2002
Map Showing Prevention Research Centers in the United States (Center listing below)

1. University of Washington at Seattle 15. University of Kentucky
2. University of California at Berkeley 16. University of Alabama at Birmingham
3. University of California at Los Angeles 17. Morehouse School of Medicine
4. University of Arizona 18. University of South Florida
5. University of Colorado 19. University of South Carolina
6. University of New Mexico 20. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
7. University of Oklahoma 21. West Virginia University
8. University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston 22. The Johns Hopkins University
9. Tulane University 23. University of Pittsburgh
10. Saint Louis University 24. Columbia University
11. University of Iowa 25. State University of New York at Albany
12. University of Minnesota 26. Yale University
13. University of Illinois at Chicago 27. Boston University
14. University of Michigan 28. Harvard University

Cost of Chronic Diseases

The medical care costs for people with chronic diseases account for more than 70% of the nation’s total medical care costs.

CDC Goals

  • To discover innovative ways of promoting healthy lifestyles and improving quality of life.
  • To translate these discoveries into improved national, state, or local policies and public health practices.

Effectiveness of Prevention Programs

Below are some examples that show the cost benefits of prevention programs: 

  • For a cost ranging from $1,109 to $4,542 for smoking cessation programs, 1 quality-adjusted year of life is saved. Stop-smoking programs are the gold standard of cost-effective interventions.
  • For each $1 spent on the Safer Choice Program (a school HIV, other STD, and pregnancy prevention program), about $2.65 is saved on medical and social costs.
  • For every $1 spent on preconception care programs for women with diabetes, $1.86 can be saved by preventing birth defects among their offspring.
  • A mammogram every 2 years for women aged 50–69 years costs only about $9,000 per year of life saved.
  • For the cost of 100 Papanicolaou (Pap) tests for low-income elderly women, about $5,907 and 3.7 years of life are saved.

Example of CDC Activities

In collaboration with the Association of Schools of Public Health, the Prevention Research Centers program established a 2-year fellowship for doctoral-level students of ethnic or racial minority origin. The first four fellows are now gaining hands-on experience with projects directed by the centers and their community partners. This fellowship program expands the number of future public health professionals qualified to work with ethnic or racial minority groups.

Example of State Activities

Washington: Researchers at the University of Washington Prevention Research Center study how to encourage older adults to stay healthy and independent. Researchers have disseminated their findings statewide. Research results show that

  • A combination of prevention strategies that target risk factors such as physical inactivity, alcohol use, home hazards, medication misuse, social isolation, and sensory impairment among seniors can reduce hospitalization days by as much as 70% and the number of days of restricted activity by 25%.
  • Regular walking reduces older adults’ risk for cardiovascular disease.
  • Exercise classes and home-based exercise programs can reduce falls among older adults by as much as 30% in 1 year.

These findings led to physical activity being offered in 33 senior centers and senior residences in the Puget Sound region and replication in 5 states.

 
Related Information

 

 




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This page last reviewed August 10, 2004

United States Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion