Clarifying the Relationship between Delirium and Alzheimers Disease and Related Dementias (R01 Clinical Trial Optional) | PAR 18 029

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 18 029

This NIH grant opportunity (PAR-18-029) uses the R01 mechanism and is aimed at research that clarifies how delirium and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) are connected. The central idea is that the relationship appears to run in both directions and to worsen outcomes: people who already have ADRD are more likely to develop delirium and often do worse when they do, while people who experience delirium are more likely to go on to develop mild cognitive impairment or ADRD and may decline faster than those who never had delirium. The FOA is essentially trying to move the field beyond correlation by encouraging studies that explain why these patterns happen, what biological and clinical pathways link the conditions, and how that knowledge can be used to improve patient care.

The research scope is broad and supports multiple lines of investigation, as long as the work meaningfully advances understanding of the delirium-ADRD connection. Projects can focus on shared or interacting mechanisms, including pathways that are common to both conditions, sequential (one triggering changes that set up the other), causative, contributory, or synergistic. The FOA also highlights the need to understand how delirium develops in the context of aging and neurodegeneration, and it explicitly encourages the use of appropriate animal models where they can help unpack mechanisms that are hard to isolate in humans. In addition to mechanistic biology, the FOA welcomes work on clinical and epidemiologic risk factors that predict delirium in people with ADRD and, conversely, factors that predict later cognitive impairment or dementia among people who have had delirium. Another emphasis is improving how clinicians detect and measure each condition when the other is present, since delirium can mask or mimic dementia symptoms and dementia can make delirium harder to recognize and stage.

The announcement also calls for efforts to identify meaningful phenotypes among patients who have delirium and ADRD together, which could include symptom patterns, trajectories of recovery or decline, biomarker profiles, or subgroups defined by underlying pathology and vulnerability. On the intervention side, the FOA allows (but does not require) clinical trials, as indicated by “Clinical Trial Optional.” Proposed studies may test pharmacologic or non-pharmacologic strategies to prevent delirium, treat it, or reduce its impact in patients with ADRD, and likewise strategies that might reduce downstream cognitive harm after delirium or mitigate ADRD-related vulnerability. Across all these approaches, the intended payoff is practical: mechanistic insight that translates into better risk assessment, more accurate diagnosis, clearer patient stratification, and improved prevention and management strategies for both delirium and ADRD.

In terms of administrative details, this is a discretionary, health-focused grant program under the National Institutes of Health, with CFDA number 93.866. The eligible applicant pool is wide and includes many types of U.S. government entities (state, county, city/township, special districts), public and private institutions of higher education, independent school districts, tribal governments (federally recognized) and other tribal organizations, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status, for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), small businesses, and other organizations. The FOA also explicitly notes additional eligible applicant categories such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions, faith-based and community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, U.S. territories or possessions, and even non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations) and regional organizations. The posting lists an original closing date of January 7, 2020 and a creation date of October 30, 2017; specific award ceilings and expected award counts are not provided in the excerpted data.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Clarifying the Relationship between Delirium and Alzheimers Disease and Related Dementias (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-10-30.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-01-07. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

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