Provincial variation in colorectal cancer screening adherence in Canada; evidence from the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health
The researchers sought to assess regional variation in screening uptake, identify factors to non-adherence to screening, and estimate adherence to screening in those with differing risk profiles. Using national CanPath data, they found adherence suboptimal amongst Canadians and noticed variation by region.
Evaluation of the accuracy of the PLCOm2012 6-year lung cancer risk prediction model among smokers in the CARTaGENE population-based cohort
This study aimed to validate a tool to predict lung cancer risk using data from CARTaGENE participants. It showed good accuracy in identifying lung cancer risk but underestimated the number of cases. This tool may require calibration adjustments for the Quebec population.
Socio-Demographic Factors Associated With COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among Middle-Aged Adults During the Quebec’s Vaccination Campaign
This study aimed to describe how socioeconomic and demographic characteristics affect vaccine hesitancy. Using data from 6,105 CARTaGENE participants, researchers found that those born outside of Canada and those with a household income under $100,000 had the greatest hesitancy.
Five-year absolute risk estimates of colorectal cancer based on CCRAT model and polygenic risk scores: A validation study using the Quebec population-based cohort CARTaGENE
This study aimed to assess the Colorectal Cancer Risk Assessment tool’s predictive performance alongside three polygenic risk scores to predict the occurrence of colorectal cancer within five years. Using data from 6,747 CARTaGENE participants, the researchers found that this tool requires better calibrations before practical use in Québec.
Epidemiological characteristics of the COVID-19 spring outbreak in Quebec, Canada: a population-based study
This study examined the epidemiological and socio-economic impact of the spring 2020 outbreak of COVID-19 on the Quebec population. An online survey of the participants of CARTaGENE was conducted, with 8,129 respondents. The study found some discrepancies between the symptoms associated with being tested and being positive. The results also emphasize the need for increasing the accessibility of testing for the general population.
Validation of breast cancer risk assessment tools on a French-Canadian population-based cohort
This study evaluated the use of the Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (BCRAT), International Breast Cancer Intervention Study risk evaluation tool (IBIS), Polygenic Risk Scores (PRS) and combined scores to predict the occurrence of invasive breast cancers at 5 years in a French-Canadian population.
Agreement in the CARTaGENE cohort between self-reported medication use and claim data
The research team investigated the agreement of self-reported medication use in CARTaGENE baseline data with provincial health insurance records. Overall, there was a reasonable agreement between the two data sources, but important variations were found for the different drug classes.
Diabetes, Brain Infarcts, Cognition and Small Vessels in the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds Study
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.
Quantifying the Predictive Accuracy of a Polygenic Risk Score for Predicting Incident Cancer Cases: Application to the CARTaGENE Cohort
This study evaluated the 5-year predictivity of an 18-single nucleotide polymorphism PRS for incident breast cancer cases in the CARTaGENE cohort using pseudo R^2 indices. It concluded that the proposed pseudo-R^2 is easy to implement and well suited to evaluate PRS for predicting incident events in cohort studies.
Allele-specific expression reveals interactions between genetic variation and environment
Combining whole-blood RNA-seq with extensive environmental annotations collected from 922 human individuals, we identified 35 GxE interactions, compared with only four using standard GxE interaction testing. EAGLE provides new opportunities for researchers to identify GxE interactions using functional genomic data.