The purpose of this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) is to highlight that the National Institute on Aging (NIA) is interested in receiving grant applications focused on pain, pain management, and opioids related to aging or older adults and within NIA’s mission areas. This NOSI invites research applications that focus on improving the understanding of mechanisms underlying pain experience with aging; enhancing assessment, prevention, and management strategies for pain in older adults; and improving health equity of aging populations suffering with pain. New applications, resubmissions, competing renewals, and competing revisions to existing awards are all encouraged through this NOSI. For administrative supplements focused on pain, pain management, and opioids related to aging or older adults and within NIA’s mission areas, please see NOT-AG-22-005.

The specific research objective of this NOSI is to expand the scientific knowledge base of mechanisms, assessment, treatment, and outcomes of pain and pain-related conditions in aging humans and animal models. NIA welcomes basic and translational research and research training applications that fall within NIA’s mission to support genetic, biological, clinical, behavioral, social, and economic research on aging. Both new data collection and analyses of existing datasets are welcome. Leveraging of ongoing cohorts, intervention studies, networks, data and specimen repositories, model systems, and other existing research resources and infrastructure is encouraged. Study designs may include mechanistic studies, observational approaches, quasi-experimental designs, and interventional studies. NIA encourages applicants to address priorities outlined in the NIA Health Disparities Research Framework.

This NOSI encourages grant applications focused on aging-related studies of pain, pain management, and opioids including, but not limited to, these overarching topic areas:

• Elucidation of mechanisms underlying pain experience and its consequences in aging
• Development and enhancement of strategies for collection of clinical pain data and for assessing, preventing, and managing pain in later life
• Improving health equity of aging populations suffering from pain

This notice applies to application receipt dates on or after February 5, 2022 and subsequent receipt dates through January 7, 2025.

NOT-AG-22-004