Publications

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

2020

Assessing arsenic in human toenail clippings using portable X-ray fluorescence

Authors: David Fleming, Samantha Crook, Colby Evans, Michel Nader, Manuel Atia, Jason Hicks, Ellen Sweeney, Christopher McFarlane, Jong Song Kim, Erin Keltie, Anil Adsesh

Single toenail clippings from 60 Atlantic Canadian participants were assessed for arsenic using a new portable X-ray fluorescence approach. The portable XRF technique used in this study shows promise as a means of assessing arsenic concentration in toenail clippings.

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2020

Assessing the Variation within the Oral Microbiome of Healthy Adults

Authors: Jacob Nearing, Vanessa DeClerq, Johan Van Limbergen, Morgan Langille

This study examined the salivary oral microbiome of 1,049 Atlantic Canadians using 16S rRNA gene sequencing to determine which dietary, lifestyle, and anthropometric features play a role in shaping microbial community composition. Results showed that while many features were significantly associated with oral microbiome composition, no single biological factor explained a variation larger than 2%.

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2020

Burden of multimorbidity and polypharmacy among cancer survivors: a population-based nested case–control study

Authors: Melanie Keats, Yunsong Cui, Vanessa DeClerq, Scott Grandy, Ellen Sweeney, Trevor Dummer

The purpose of this study was to investigate if adult cancer survivors showed more than one comorbidity while taking medications. The article found multimorbities in 53% of cancer survivors. Those on multiple medications showed much higher results.

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2020

Association between lifestyle behaviors and frailty in Atlantic Canadian males and females

Authors: Vanessa DeClerq, Todd Duhamel, Olga Teou, Scott Kehler

The aim of this study was to identify lifestyle factors in males and females that are associated with a degree of frailty in a Canadian cohort. Higher frailty was more prevalent among participants with unhealthy lifestyle behaviors related to smoking, alcohol consumption, sedentary and physical activity level, diet, and sleep.

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2020

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.

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2019

Anxiety and depression symptoms in adult males in Atlantic Canada with or without a lifetime history of prostate cancer

Authors: G Illie, Ellen Sweeney, R Rutledge

In this study based on prostate cancer and to examine the assoication between depression and anxiety. They looked at sample size of 6585 participants and found surivors of PCa had 2.45 or 2.05 statistically significant higher odds of screening positive for anxiety/depression

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2019

The Relationship between Anthropometric Measures and Cardiometabolic Health in Shift Work: Findings from the Atlantic PATH Cohort Study

Authors: Ellen Sweeney, Zhijie Yu, Trevor Dummer, Yunsong Cui, Vanessa DeClerq, Cynthia Forbes, Scott Grandy, Melanie Keats, Louise Parker, Anil Adisesh

This article was written to evaluate the relationship between anthropomeric measures and cardiometabolic health in shift workers compared to non-shift workers. They looked at 4155 shift workers and 8258 non-shift workers. There was a slight risk of CVD, obesity, and diabetes among shift workers. It also shown that shift workers were 17% more likely to be obese and 27% more likely to have diabetes.

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2019

Rural‐Urban Disparities in Total Physical Activity, Body Composition, and Related Health Indicators: An Atlantic PATH Study

Authors: Cynthia Forbes, Zhijie Michael Yu, Yunsong Cui, Vanessa DeClerq, Scott Grandy, Louise Parker, Ellen Sweeney, Trevor Dummer, Melanie Keats

This study was done to compare the sociodemographic/lifestyle characteristics of urban/rural residents in Atlantic Canada. Over 17000 adults were surveyed and multi-linear/logistic regression were done. It was found that rural residents were significantly less likely to be regular or habitual drinkers. Obesity prevalence was much higher out in the Atlantic provinces.

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2018

Fruit and vegetable intake and body adiposity among populations in Eastern Canada: the Atlantic Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health Study

Authors: Vanessa DeClerq, Yunsong Cui, Trevor Dummer, Cynthia Forbes, Scott Grandy,Melanie Keats, Louise Parker, Ellen Sweeney, Zhijie Michael Yu

This was a cross-sectional study that looked at 26340 individuals (7979 men/18361 women). They looked at data on fruits/vegetable intake, sociodemographic and behavioural factors. The consumption of fruits and vegetables was inversely associated with higher body fat in these populations.

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2018

Differences in adiposity and diet quality among individuals with inflammatory bowel disease in Eastern Canada

Authors: Vanessa DeClerq, Morgan Langille, Johan van Limbergen

This study looked at the relationship between diet quality and body composition in participants with IBD. There was a positive correlation between adiposity and those who ate processed grains, excess meats; there was a negative correlation between those who consumed lots of fruits/vegetables, whole grains. There was distinct difference in adiposity and diet quality were observed in individuals

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