Publications

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

2021

Predictors of CRC Stage at Diagnosis among Male and Female Adults Participating in a Prospective Cohort Study: Findings from Alberta’s Tomorrow Project

Authors: Monica Ghebrial, Michelle L. Aktary, Qinggang Wang, John J. Spinelli, Lorraine Shack, Paula J. Robson, Karen A. Kopciuk

This study aimed to uncover factors associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) at diagnosis in 267 Alberta Tomorrow Project participants. Researchers found that social support, having children, and caffeine intake were strong CRC stage predictors at diagnosis for males. In contrast, CRC family history, pregnancy, hysterectomy, menopausal hormone therapy, Pap test lifetime number, and household physical activity were strong CRC predictors at diagnosis for females.

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2021

Chronic Disease Surveillance in Alberta’s Tomorrow Project using Administrative Health Data

Authors: Ming Ye, Jennifer Vena, Jeffrey Johnson, Grace Shen-Tu, Dean Eurich

This study linked data from 52,770 Alberta’s Tomorrow Project participants with Alberta Health data to describe the prevalence and incidence of chronic diseases. Researchers found an increase in chronic diseases among the cohort, especially for cardiovascular diseases and multimorbidity.

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2021

Towards refining World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research cancer prevention recommendations for red and processed meat intake: insights from Alberta’s Tomorrow Project cohort

Authors: Ala Al Rajabi, Geraldine Lo Siou, Alianu K. Akawung, Kathryn McDonald, Tiffany R. Price, Grace Shen-Tu, Paula J. Robson, Paul J. Veugelers, Katerina Maximova

This study examined the associations of processed meat derived from red versus non-red meats with cancer risk in the Alberta’s Tomorrow Project cohort of 26 218 adults who reported dietary intake using the Canadian Diet History Questionnaire. Incidence of cancer was obtained through data linkage with the Alberta Cancer Registry.

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2021

A Prospective Analysis of Plasma Phospholipid Fatty Acids and Breast Cancer Risk in 2 Provinces in Canada

Authors: Marnie Newell, Sunita Ghosh, Susan Goruk, Mohammedreza Pakseresht, Jennifer Vena, Trevor Dummer, Catherine Field

This study compared participants from BCGP and ATP and examined whether there was an association between fatty acid status and the risk of breast cancer, including location, menopausal status, and waist-to-hip ratio as key variables. Findings suggest that regional variations in fatty acid status influence breast cancer risk and highlights the complexity and difficulty in using fatty acid status to predict breast cancer risk in diverse populations without the consideration of other risk factors.

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2020

The Importance of Cancer Registry Linkage for Studying Rare Cancers in Prospective Cohorts

Authors: Emily Maplethorpe, Emily V. Walker, Trenton Smith, Faith G. Davis, Yan Yuan

This research study evaluated the validity of self-reported cancer diagnosis in ATP by linking to the Alberta Cancer Registry. The first instance of self-reported cancer in a follow-up survey was compared to the first cancer diagnosis in the ACR after enrollment. The study found that rare cancers were less likely to be captured by active follow-up than common cancers.

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2020

High-sensitivity C-reactive protein, hemoglobin A1c and breast cancer risk: a nested case–control study from Alberta’s Tomorrow Project cohort

Authors: Tiffany Price, Christine Friedenreich, Paula Robson, Haocheng Li, Darren Brenner

This study examined the associations between high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), common biomarkers of inflammation and insulin resistance, respectively, with breast cancer risk, while adjusting for measures of excess body size. These data suggest that hsCRP may be associated with elevated breast cancer risk, independent of excess body size. However, elevated concentrations of HbA1c did not appear to increase breast cancer risk in apparently healthy women.

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2020

Diet Quality and Health Service Utilization for Depression: A Prospective Investigation of Adults in Alberta’s Tomorrow Project

Authors: Shelby Marozoff, Paul Veugelers, Julia Dabravolskaj, Dean Eurich, Ming Ye, Katerina Maximova

This study investigated the association of depression with diet quality by studying dietary patterns of 25,016 participants in the Alberta cohort using data from the past year food frequency questionnaire. It was found that higher quality diets were associated with a lower number of physician visits for depression.

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2020

Co-consumption of Vegetables and Fruit, Whole Grains, and Fiber Reduces the Cancer Risk of Red and Processed Meat in a Large Prospective Cohort of Adults from Alberta’s Tomorrow Project

Authors: Katerina Maximova, Elham Khodayari Moez, Julia Dabravolskaj, Alexa Ferdinands, Irina Dinu, Geraldine Siou, Ala Al Rajabi, Paul Veugelers

This study examined whether co-consumption of red and processed meat with key foods items and food constituents recommended for cancer prevention (vegetables and fruit, whole grains, and fiber) mitigates cancer incidence.

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2019

Validation of drug prescription records for senior patients in Alberta’s Tomorrow Project: Assessing agreement between two population-level administrative pharmaceutical databases in Alberta, Canada.

Authors: Ming Ye, Jennifer Vena, JY Xu, DT Eurich

This study was done to examine the pharamceutical information network (PIN) and the Alberta Blue Cross dataset to see the medical records of all senior patients in Alberta matched up. It was found that the PIN had a fairly good completing at capuring the ABC medications for senior patients in Alberta.

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2019

Anthropometric changes and risk of diabetes: are there sex differences? A longitudinal study of Alberta’s Tomorrow Project

Authors: Ming Ye, Paula Robson, Dean Eurich, Jennifer Vena, Jian-Yi Xu, Jefferey A Johnson

The objective this was study was see if there was an association with antropometric change and risk of diabetes. There was a positive association between anthropometric changes and risk of diabetes was found more in men than women.

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