The state of VA-funded women Veterans’ health systems research

Abstract: Background: Women veterans are the fastest-growing population of new users within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care delivery system. This paper aims to characterize the scope of women's health research funded by VA Health Systems Research (HSR) over the past 10 years. Methods: Ten years of data (2014–2023) were obtained from a VA financial database that captures research projects that started on or after January 1, 2014. Projects were coded for topical areas and study types. Results: VA HSR funded 91 women's health studies over the past 10 years. The number of active projects grew from 7 in 2014 to 50 in 2023, with a parallel increase in total funding amount for women's health-focused research projects (nearly $570,000 in 2014 and $8.1 M in 2023). Descriptive or epidemiological studies were the most prominent study type (55% of active projects) and there was a steady increase in intervention and implementation studies. The most common topics were mental health and/or substance use (22% of projects), followed by reproductive health (13%), access/rural health (13%), other chronic conditions (12%), violence and trauma exposure (10%), primary care and prevention (8%), pain (7%), other (5%), comorbidities (3%), post-deployment health (3%), aging and long-term care (2%), and cancer (2%). Conclusions: Overall, our findings indicate that HSR funding for studies focused on women veterans' health has grown over the last decade, and those studies have diversified in topics and types of study designs. As a learning health system, VA can use these findings to prioritize its future women's health research funding to meet the health needs of women veterans.