Key Dates

Related Announcements

PA-20-185 - NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

PA-20-184 - NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required)

PA-20-183 - NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Required)

PA-20-200 - NIH Small Research Grant Program (Parent R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

PA-20-194 - NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Clinical Trial Required)

PA-20-195 - NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

PA-20-196 - NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required)

Issued by

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Purpose

Advancing knowledge about the epidemiology of alcohol use is fundamental to improving the public health. One prominent objective is to better understand the developmental trajectories of alcohol use, risky drinking, and alcohol use disorders. We know that people who initiate alcohol use at younger ages are more likely to develop alcohol use disorders. However, much is unknown about the train of events between early initiation, frequent heavy drinking, and the development of an alcohol use disorder. Much is also unknown about how the various risk factors in this train of events interact with each other. Genetics certainly plays a role. However, the ways in which epigenetic changes in gene expression are produced by interactions with environmental influences are only beginning to be understood. Similarly, little is known about the correlates of "maturing out" of heavy drinking, which happens in most individuals, but not all.

The salience of specific risk and protective factors varies over the life course, as well as by gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Consequently, prevention strategies can be tailored to optimize effectiveness for a particular target group or age category.

The outcomes targeted by prevention interventions are various. Some seek to reduce early onset, binge drinking, high-intensity drinking, and alcohol use disorders. Others target health conditions including hepatic disease, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Others target injuries or deaths attributed to traffic crashes, interpersonal violence, or suicide. The whole matrix of risk (and protective) factors by alcohol-related outcomes describes a rich set of potential interventions that can be developed and targeted.

Given these considerations, NIAAA's priorities for research in epidemiology and prevention are, but not limited to:

• Disentangle the interplay of alcohol use and other risk factors during gestation, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, and midlife, and across generations, that lead to chronic diseases and health conditions.
• Build better understanding of alcohol misuse among women and identify and evaluate effective strategies to reduce alcohol misuse among females across lifespan, e.g., in adolescent girls, pregnant women, and breastfeeding women.
• Examine the impact of simultaneous alcohol and drug use on unintentional and intentional injuries and how to prevent simultaneous use.
• Identify the factors driving high-intensity drinking and evaluate strategies to reduce its prevalence.
• Use ecological momentary assessment techniques to study the influence of mood states, environmental cues, and social contexts on the occurrence of heavy drinking occasions.
• Develop and evaluate tools for screening and brief intervention for both alcohol and drug misuse.
• Develop and evaluate interventions to prevent and reduce alcohol misuse by older adults.
• Develop and evaluate strategies to prevent and reduce alcohol misuse among young adults, especially those in the military and the civilian work force who have been less studied than those in college.
• Evaluate strategies to reduce harmful alcohol use in college and non-college populations.
• Develop and evaluate strategies to prevent underage drinking.
• Develop and evaluate culturally appropriate and effective interventions to reduce alcohol misuse in in NIH-defined minority health and health disparities populations.
• Develop and evaluate prevention strategies tailored for specific populations and developmental periods when universal approaches are less effective.
• Study the effect of public policy on alcohol use, other substance use, and alcohol related harms.
• Support epidemiologic and systems science research to elucidate how biological, environmental, and behavioral determinants intersect to impact alcohol misuse and related consequences.
• Understand the nature and extent of harms that misuse of alcohol imposes on others and evaluate interventions to prevent or reduce such harms.
• Examine the linkages between alcohol misuse and various health conditions, both mental and somatic, and develop and evaluate interventions for persons with such co-occurring disorders.

Application and Submission Information

This notice applies to due dates on or after October 5, 2020 and subsequent receipt dates through September 8, 2023.

Submit applications for this initiative using one of the following funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) or any reissues of these announcement through the expiration date of this notice.

• PA-19-055 - NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Required)
• PA-19-056 - NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
• PA-19-091 NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required)
• PA-20-185 - NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
• PA-20-184 - NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required)
• PA-20-183 - NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Required)
• PA-20-200 - NIH Small Research Grant Program (Parent R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
• PA-20-194 - NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Clinical Trial Required)
• PA-20-195 - NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
• PA-20-196 - NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required)

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and the funding opportunity announcement used for submission must be followed, with the following additions:

• For funding consideration, applicants must include NOT-AA-20-017 (without quotation marks) in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4B) of the SF424 R&R form. Applications without this information in box 4B will not be considered for this initiative.

Inquiries

Robert Freeman, Ph.D.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Telephone: 301-443-8820
Email: rfreeman@mail.nih.gov