Job strain and the incidence of heart diseases: A prospective community study in Quebec, Canada
CARTaGENE survey data linked with administrative data and Cox regression models were used to examine the association between job strain and heart disease, adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, behavioral and clinical factors, and depressive symptoms. It was found that job strain was associated with an increased risk of heart disease in middle-aged women and in men aged 50 years and older. This association was not accounted for by depressive symptoms or sociodemographic, clinical, and behavioral factors.
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.
Diet Quality and Food Prices Modify Associations between Genetic Susceptibility to Obesity and Adiposity Outcomes
This cross-sectional investigation geo-temporally linked CARTaGENE data with in-store retail food environment data to examine interactions between a polygenic risk score (PRS) for obesity and (1) diet quality (n = 6807) and (2) in-store retail food measures (n = 3718). The outcomes included adiposity-related measures and diet quality assessed using the 2010 Canadian-adapted Healthy Eating Index.
Sunlight exposure, sun‐protective behaviour, and anti‐citrullinated protein antibody positivity: A general population‐based study in Quebec, Canada
This study examined associations between sunlight exposure and anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) using general population data in Quebec. The research team studied 7600 people and did not find conclusive associations, but robust positive relationships were observed between industrial PM2.5 emissions and ACPA.
Long-term exposure to a mixture of industrial SO 2, NO 2, and PM 2.5 and anti-citrullinated protein antibody positivity
The research team looked at exposures to SO2, NO2, and fine particles matter on anti-citrullinated protein antibodies, a characteristic biomarker for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It was found that there was a positive correlation between ACPA and industrial emissions of PM2.5 and SO2.
Association between depressive symptoms, metabolic risk factors, and cognitive function: cross-sectional results from a community study in Quebec, Canada
This study investigated the cross-sectional association between depressive symptoms and metabolic risk factors with cognitive function in a middle-aged population. They found that comorbidity of depressive symptoms and MetD was associated with reduced cognitive performance in middle-aged adults without diabetes.
The association between job strain, depressive symptoms, and cardiovascular disease risk: results from a cross-sectional population-based study in Québec, Canada
This study investigated whether there is an association between job strain and cardiovascular disease risk score, when depressive symptoms are controlled for. The results suggest that the job strain is associated with CVD risk score and that this association is not explained by depressive symptoms. Similar associations were observed for males and females.
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.
Founder BRCA1/BRCA2/PALB2 pathogenic variants in French-Canadian breast cancer cases and controls
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of genetic testing for these variants of the BRCA gene in Montreal French Canadians. A total of 555 breast cancer cases unselected for family history or age of diagnosis were genotyped, along with 1940 controls without a personal or family history of cancer. Almost 10% of the early onset cases of BC were heterozygous for founder BRCA1 or BRCA2. 7 of the 20 variants of the breast cancer gene tested for were found in this study.
Reduced Cognitive Assessment Scores Among Individuals With Magnetic Resonance Imaging–Detected Vascular Brain Injury
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.