Our top 6 reasons why ‘it was a very good year’

See how 2015 was the Institute’s best year yet—for funding and practical impact, improving people’s health at Group Health and across the country.

To paraphrase Frank Sinatra, when our Institute was 32, it was a very good year. It was a very good year for our research. And funding too. In fact, the strongest since Group Health Research Institute started in 1983: Our 2015 revenue from external sources was $46.3 million. If you include support from Group Health, it was $48.4 million. And our success rate for getting proposals funded rose, to 42 percent for the National Institutes of Health—and 54 percent for all funders.*

Here are some highlights of the year’s discoveries.

1. Our work influenced national guidelines regarding:

• Breast cancer screening.  We contributed to a large national study showing that women with breast cancer had tumors with similar prognoses whether screened yearly or every other year after menopause. These results were a key reason why the American Cancer Society changed its recommendations for screening mammography—for the first time in 18 years.
• Regular aspirin. Our work on a large evidence review helped establish that people at increased risk of heart disease who take aspirin for at least a decade may also reduce the likelihood of developing—and maybe dying from—colon cancer. This review led the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force to propose a draft guideline for some people to take low-dose aspirin for colon cancer prevention.

2. Our research helped protect people from harm. We learned that:

• Using larger amounts of common medications that have strong anticholinergic side effects may raise risks for developing dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, as well as pneumonia. These results attracted widespread media coverage, including KING 5 TV and Wall Street Journal.
• Group Health’s new opioid prescribing guidelines helped our group practice to reduce high doses of these addictive drugs for chronic pain. Our research and practice in this area benefited from collaborating closely with pain patients.
• Using deep sedation for colonoscopy may raise risks for complications including perforation.
• Starting use of sleeping pills was linked to nearly twice as many car crashes. The researchers advised clinicians to take precautions or try nondrug approaches to insomnia.

3. We helped improve how health care is provided. We discovered that:

• Sending at-home stool kits through the mail is effective—and cost-effective—at boosting screening for colon cancer. And in the study’s third year, this screening approach continued to be effective. Media coverage included KUOW.
• More invasive elective treatment for common prostate conditions became less common after Group Health implemented video-based decision aids for men with benign prostatic hyperplasia and active localized prostate cancer.
• Computer-aided detection (CAD) does not improve breast cancer screening. Though widely used, CAD raises screening costs without benefit to patients—and may even miss some cancers. Media coverage of these results, which were published in a large national study, included the Seattle Times.

4. We addressed the obesity epidemic. Our research showed:

• Surgery for obesity was linked to longer survival in a large study of Veterans Affairs patients. And various types of bariatric surgery have different benefits and costs to consider. Seattle magazine, Seattle Times, NPR, and other media reported on this research.
• Older Group Health patients were able to learn to spend less time sitting down. This work inspired a video and media coverage including USA Today.

5. We helped make vaccines safer and more effective and widely used.

• We tested a new way to train doctors to tackle parents’ hesitancy about vaccinating their children—and found it wanting. Media outlets including KUOW, NPR, Reuters, and the Seattle Times reported the findings.
• We helped monitor effectiveness of influenza vaccines, as reported by KIRO 7 TV, KING 5 TV,KUOW, and KPLU, among others.
• We learned adjuvants boost the immune response to bird flu, as the Seattle Times and others reported. Group Health is involved in the national effort to prepare for bird flu, in case it mutates to become more easily transmitted from one person to the other.

6. We helped improve people’s mental health.

• We discovered that organized self-management support, including peer support, eases chronic depression, according to a randomized controlled trial at Group Health.
• GHRI teamwork led to a Facebook suicide-prevention tool. A new Facebook feature provides options for people whose friends are writing posts that suggest thoughts of self-harm.

But now the days are short. We’re in the winter of the year. Old Blue Eyes would be 100. As we start a New Year and look back on 2015, it’s clear:

It was a very good year.

by Rebecca Hughes

* Data revised Jan. 22, 2016.