Publications

These publications are examples of research made possible with data from CanPath and its regional cohorts.

2023

Mental health service use and associated predisposing, enabling and need factors in community living adults and older adults across Canada

Authors: Helen-Maria Vasiliadis, Jessica Spagnolo, Marie-Josée Fleury, Jean-Philippe Gouin, Pasquale Roberge, Mary Bartram, Sébastien Grenier, Grace Shen-Tu, Jennifer E. Vena, JianLi Wang

The authors utilized data from the CanPath COVID-19 health survey (May to December 2020) to conduct multivariate logistic regression analysis to determine the association between mental health service use (MHSU) and predisposing, enabling, and need factors — derived from Andersen’s model of healthcare-seeking behaviour — among five regional cohorts. Among the 45,542 adults in the study population, 6.3% of respondents reported MHSU and need factors were consistently associated with MHSU.

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2023

Examining the influence of built environment on sleep disruption

Authors: Jaclyn Parks, Millie Baghela, Parveen Bhatti

Researchers sought to understand if modifying aspects of the built environment improved sleep. Using data from 28,385 BC Generations Project participants, they found that increased light-at-night, air pollution (SO2), and living <100 m from a main roadway were associated with insufficient sleep. Greenness had a positive effect on sleep.

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2022

Agreement between self-report and administrative health data on occurrence of non-cancer chronic disease among participants of the BC generations project

Authors: Maryam Darvishian, Jessica Chu, Jonathan Simkin, Ryan Woods, Parveen Bhatti

Linked self-reported chronic disease history data to a Chronic Disease Registry (CDR) that applied algorithms to administrative health data to ascertain diagnoses of multiple chronic diseases in the Province of British Columbia.

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2022

Dietary Intake and the Neighbourhood Environment in the BC Generations Project

Authors: Rachel A. Murphy, Gabriela Kuczynski, Parveen Bhatti, Trevor J. B. Dummer

This study examined how neighbourhood factors like access to amenities and social relationships, as well as greenness and walkability, can influence fruit and vegetable intake. ~28,000 participants from the BC Generations Project were involved. Those living in neighbourhoods with greater material and social deprivation were less likely to meet recommendations for fruit and vegetable consumption, while those living in neighbourhoods with higher greenness were more likely to meet recommendations. These findings highlight how multiple neighbourhood characteristics can impact dietary intake.

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2022

Harnessing the power of data linkage to enrich the cancer research ecosystem in Canada

Authors: Robin Urquhart, Philip Awadalla, Parveen Bhatti, Trevor Dummer, Simon Gravel, Jennifer Vena, Riaz Alvi, Philippe Broet, Cynthia Kendell, Victoria Kirsh, Guillaume Lettre, Kimberly Skead, Grace Shen-Tu, Ellen Sweeney, Donna Turner

This abstract discusses a project aimed at linking cancer registry and administrative health data to Canada’s largest population health study, the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health (CanPath). The project seeks to enrich the cancer research ecosystem in Canada by providing researchers with a comprehensive dataset that includes genetics, environment, lifestyle, and behaviour data. The linked data will be made available through a cloud-based solution called the CanPath Data Safe Haven, which is accessible to researchers through secure access. The project will address concerns related to the accessibility of cancer data in Canada, bring more value to existing data, and support an enhanced understanding of the impacts of cancer on marginalized populations.

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2022

Lifestyle factors and lung cancer risk among never smokers in the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health (CanPath)

Authors: Rachel Murphy, Maryam Darvishian, Jia Qi, Yixian Chen, Quincy Chu, Jennifer Vena, Trevor J B Dummer, Nhu Le, Ellen Sweeney, Vanessa DeClercq, Scott A Grandy, Melanie R Keats, Yunsong Cui, Philip Awadalla, Darren R Brenner, Parveen Bhatti

Data from 950 CanPath participants were analyzed to understand why 15-25% of lung cancers occur in never smokers. Researchers found a link between lung cancer risk, sleep, and fruit and vegetable intake amongst never smokers.

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2022

The BC Generations Project as a Tumor Tissue Resource for Cancer Research

Authors: Umaimah Zanif, Jessica Chu, Jonathan Simkin, Trevor Dummer, Ryan Woods, Eric Belanger, Parveen Bhatti

BCGP is making significant strides in its utility as a high-quality tumor tissue research resource. The BC Cancer Registry recently implemented a text mining solution to allow BCGP to capture pathology reports for 100% of all newly diagnosed BCGP cancer cases!

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2022

Evaluation of Adiposity and Cognitive Function in Adults

Authors: Sonia S. Anand, Matthias G. Friedrich, Douglas S. Lee, Phillip Awadalla, J. P. Després, Dipika Desai, Russell J. de Souza, Trevor Dummer, Grace Parraga, Eric Larose, Scott A. Lear, Koon K. Teo, Paul Poirier, Karleen M. Schulze, Dorota Szczesniak, Jean-Claude Tardif, Jennifer Vena, Katarzyna Zatonska, Salim Yusuf, Eric E. Smith, the Canadian Alliance of Healthy Hearts and Minds (CAHHM), the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) Study Investigators

Researchers sought to undercover the association between adipose tissue (amount and distribution) and cognitive scores. Using data from 9,189 participants, they found that higher visceral adipose tissue and body fat percentage correlated with increased vascular brain injuries and cardiovascular risk factors, as well as lower cognitive scores.

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2022

Patterns and determinants of adherence to colorectal cancer primary and secondary prevention recommendations in the BC Generations Project

Authors: Molly Sweeney-Magee, Carolyn Gotay, Mohammad Ehsanul Karim, Jennifer Telford, Trevor Dummer

Researchers assessed how 26,074 BCGP participants adhere to cancer prevention recommendations. They found that adherence to some behaviours was high, but clusters of poorer adherence were also highlighted. They suggested future work to evaluate targeted interventions to maximize adherence amongst lower socioeconomic status and health groups.

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2021

A large Canadian cohort provides insights into the genetic architecture of human hair colour

Authors: Frida Lona-Durazo, Marla Mendes, Rohit Thakur, Karen Funderburk, Tongwu Zhang, Michael A. Kovacs, Jiyeon Choi, Kevin M. Brown, Esteban J. Parra 

Researchers performed genome-wide association studies and meta-analyses to garner insight on regulatory mechanisms of hair colour variation and pigmentation biology. 12,996 genotyped CanPath participants were included in this study, along with their self-reported natural hair colour. The researchers fine-mapped significant loci throughout the genome, identifying multiple novel causal variants for hair colour.

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