Publications

Diabetes, Brain Infarcts, Cognition and Small Vessels in the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds Study

Authors: Hertzel Gerstein, Eric Smith, Chinthanie Ramasundarahettige, Dipika Desai, Philip Awadalla, Philippe Broet, Sandra Black, Trevor Dummer, Jason Hicks, Alan Moody, Jean-Claude Tardif, Koon Teo, Jennifer Vena, Salim Yusuf, Douglas Lee, Matthias Friedrich, Sonia Anand

The CAHHM study collected brain and carotid magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and two cognitive tests (DSST and MoCA) in a cross-sectional sample of 7,733 men and women. It was concluded that small vessel disease characterizes much of the relationship between diabetes and vascular brain injury. However, additional factors are required to disentangle the relationship between diabetes and cognitive impairment.

The Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds: How well does it reflect the Canadian population?

Authors: Ruth E. Hall, Natasa Tusevljak, C. Fangyun Wu, Quazi Ibrahim, Karleen Schulze, Anam M. Khan, Dipika Desai, Philip Awadalla, Philippe Broet, Trevor J.B. Dummer, Jason Hicks, Jean-Claude Tardif, Koon K. Teo, Jennifer Vena, Douglas Lee, Matthias Friedrich, Sonia S. Anand, Jack V. Tu

The representativeness of the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds (CAHHM-HSR) cohort was evaluated by comparing to region matched respondents of the 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey Rapid Response module (CCHS-RR). CAHHM-HSR participants were older, more often women, more likely Chinese, and had higher education, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and cardiac testing than the general Canadian population. Despite these differences, the INTERHEART risk score was similar.

Reduced Cognitive Assessment Scores Among Individuals With Magnetic Resonance Imaging–Detected Vascular Brain Injury

Authors: Sonia S. Anand, Matthias G. Friedrich, Dipika Desai, Karleen M. Schulze, Philip Awadalla, David Busseuil, Trevor J.B. Dummer, Sébastien Jacquemont, Alexander Dick, David Kelton, Anish Kirpalani, Scott A. Lear, Jonathan Leipsic, Michael D. Noseworthy, Louise Parker, Grace Parraga, Paul Poirier, Paula Robson, Jean-Claude Tardif, Koon Teo, Jennifer Vena, Salim Yusuf, Alan R. Moody, Sandra E. Black, Eric E. Smith,

This study investigated if scores on a cognitive screen were lower in individuals with higher cardiovascular risk, and those with covert vascular brain injury. Among a middle-aged community-dwelling population, scores on a cognitive screen were lower in individuals with higher cardiovascular risk factors or MRI vascular brain injury. Much of the population attributable risk of low cognitive scores can be attributed to lower educational attainment, higher cardiovascular risk factors, and MRI vascular brain injury.

Diet Quality among Cancer Survivors and Participants without Cancer: A Population-Based, Cross-Sectional Study in the Atlantic Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health Project

This study investigated the diet quality of cancer survivors relative to participants without cancer, overall and by cancer site and time from diagnosis. It found that there was considerable room for dietary improvement regardless of cancer status, highlighting the need for dietary interventions, especially among cancer survivors, who are at higher risk for secondary health problems.

Cardiovascular risk scoring and magnetic resonance imaging detected subclinical cerebrovascular disease

Authors: Sonia S Anand, Jack V Tu, Dipika Desai, Phillip Awadalla, Paula Robson, Sébastien Jacquemont, Trevor Dummer, Nhu Le, Louise Parker, Paul Poirier, Koon Teo, Scott A Lear, Salim Yusuf, Jean-Claude Tardif, Francois Marcotte, David Busseuil, Jean-Pierre Després, Sandra E Black, Anish Kirpalani, Grace Parraga, Michael D Noseworthy, Alexander Dick, Jonathan Leipsic, David Kelton, Jennifer Vena, Melissa Thomas, Karleen M Schulze, Eric Larose, Alan R Moody, Eric E Smith, Matthias G Friedrich on behalf of the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds Cohort

This study aimed to determine if simple cardiac risk scores are associated with certain MRI-deected subclinical cerebrovascular diseases. They found that the risk scores are significantly related with carotid wall volume, carotid intraplaque haemorrhage, and silent brain infarction amongst adults without known clinical cardiovascular disease.

Harmonization of the Health and Risk Factor Questionnaire data of the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project: a descriptive analysis

Authors: Isabel Fortier, Nataliya Dragieva, Matilda Saliba, Camille Craig, Paula J. Robson

This paper describes how data is harmonized the health and risk factor questionnare and provides an overview of information required to use the core data that has been created. The reason for the harmonization is to have a unique data set including data on health and risk factors from over 307000 Canadians.

Environmental health assessment of communities across Canada: contextual factors study of the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds

Authors: ‪Russell Jude de Souza, Lise Gauvin, Natalie Williams, Scott Lear, A. P. Oliveira, Dipika Desai, Daniel Corsi, SV Subramanian, Ayesha Rana, Rishi Arora, Gillian Booth, Fahad Razak, Jeff Brook, Jack Tu, Sonia S. Anand

This study aimed to report national-level community characteristics and any interprovincial, urban/rural, and Cartesian coordinate differences. Researchers developed an on-line map for public use, showing differences in fruit and vegetable availability, advertising for sweet drinks, junk food, and tobacco products, and cigarette and alcohol prices.

Metabolic profiling of adherence to diet, physical activity and body size recommendations for cancer prevention

Authors: Qianqian Gu, John Spinelli, Trevor Dummer, Treena McDonald, Steven Moore, Rachel Murphy

This study examined cross-sectional associations between metabolites and cancer preventive behaviors as well as the relevance to cancer-related pathways among 120 participants with no history of smoking or cancer. Cancer preventive behaviors were associated with complex metabolic signatures, including alterations in pathways known to be involved in cancer pathogenesis.

Cohort Profile: The British Columbia Generations Project (BCGP)

Authors: Anar Dhalla, Treena E McDonald, Richard P Gallagher, John J Spinelli, Angela R Brooks-Wilson, Tim K Lee, Calvin Lai, Marilyn J Borugian, Ryan R Woods, Nhu D Le, Trevor J B Dummer

29850 people in BC were surveyed between the ages of 35-69. Information such as health and lifestyle, physical measurements, biosamples, and genotyping were done.

The Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project: a pan-Canadian platform for research on chronic disease prevention

Authors: Trevor J.B. Dummer, Philip Awadalla, Catherine Boileau, Camille Craig, Isabel Fortier, Vivek Goel, Jason M.T. Hicks, Sébastien Jacquemont, Bartha Maria Knoppers, Nhu Le, Treena McDonald, John McLaughlin, Anne-Marie Mes-Masson, Anne-Monique Nuyt, Lyle J. Palmer, Louise Parker, Mark Purdue, Paula J. Robson, John J. Spinelli, David Thompson, Jennifer Vena, Ma’n Zawati

In order to understand the risk factors for disease, participants across the study were recruited across 5 provinces. Body samples and physical information was collected from these people. They then harmonized this data. The hope out of this paper was that the samples afford strides in research both nationally nad internationally.