Publications

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

2023

Added value of waist circumference to body mass index for predicting fracture risk in obesity: a prospective study from the CARTaGENE cohort

Authors: Anne-Frédérique Turcotte, Sonia Jean, Suzanne N Morin, Fabrice Mac-Way, Claudia Gagnon

The researchers aimed to assess associations between waist circumference (WC) and fracture incidence within BMI categories to examine whether BMI modifies the relationships. Using data from 18,236 CARTaGENE participants, they found that larger WC was associated with a greater risk for fractures among those in the normal-to-overweight category.

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2023

Multivariate extension of penalized regression on summary statistics to construct polygenic risk scores for correlated traits

Authors: Meriem Bahda, Jasmin Ricard, Simon L. Girard, Michel Maziade, Maripier Isabelle, Alexandre Bureau

The authors developed a summary-statistics-based multivariate penalized regression approach to improve the prediction of complex human traits and disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, by considering genetic correlations between these conditions. The study utilized genotypes from 29,330 subjects from the CARTaGENE cohort to determine the predictive performance of polygenic risk scores (PRS) for genetically correlated traits in simulation for several PRS construction methods.

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2023

Provincial variation in colorectal cancer screening adherence in Canada; evidence from the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health

Authors: Maryam Darvishian, Amina Moustaqim-Barrette, Philip Awadalla, Parveen Bhatti, Philippe Broet, Kelly McDonald, Rachel A. Murphy, Kimberly Skead, Robin Urquhart, Jennifer Vena, Trevor J. B. Dummer

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.

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2023

Toenail arsenic species and metallome profiles associated with breast, cervical, prostate, and skin cancer prevalence in the Atlantic Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health cohort

Authors: Kalli Hood, Ellen Sweeney, Gabriela Ilie, Erin Keltie, Jong Sung Kim

The purpose of this study was to characterize the profiles of arsenic species and metallome in the toenails of four cancer groups, compare them to healthy participants, and assess potential associations between the profiles with cancer prevalence.

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2023

Prevalence of weak D phenotypes in the general population of Québec, Canada: A focus on weak D type 42

Authors: Mathieu Drouin, Samuel Rochette, Maryse St-Louis, Antoine Lewin, Josée Laganière

This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of weak D type 42, a particular blood group variant, and other common weak D phenotypes among 1000 CARTaGENE participants. Researchers estimated that about 0.08% of the Quebec population has this variant.

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2023

Non-fasting lipids and cardiovascular disease in those with and without diabetes in Alberta’s Tomorrow Project: A prospective cohort study

Authors: Olivia R. Weaver, Ming Ye, Jennifer E. Vena, Dean T. Eurich, Spencer D. Proctor

This study’s objective was to assess the relationship of non-fasting remnant cholesterol (RC) with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in those with and without diabetes using data from 13,631 Alberta’s Tomorrow Project participants. Researchers found that elevated non-fasting RC was associated with increased CVD risk in middle and older-aged adults without diabetes.

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2023

Investigating the oral microbiome in retrospective and prospective cases of prostate, colon, and breast cancer

Authors: Jacob T. Nearing, Vanessa DeClercq, Morgan G. I. Langille

Salivary samples from the Atlantic Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health (PATH) project and Alberta’s Tomorrow Project (ATP) to examine the existence of prostate, colon, and breast cancer biomarkers in the human oral microbiome. While no significant changes in oral microbiome diversity were detected, results indicate that there may be associations between oral microbiome and colon cancer disease status.

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2023

Mental health service use and associated predisposing, enabling and need factors in community living adults and older adults across Canada

Authors: Helen-Maria Vasiliadis, Jessica Spagnolo, Marie-Josée Fleury, Jean-Philippe Gouin, Pasquale Roberge, Mary Bartram, Sébastien Grenier, Grace Shen-Tu, Jennifer E. Vena, JianLi Wang

The authors utilized data from the CanPath COVID-19 health survey (May to December 2020) to conduct multivariate logistic regression analysis to determine the association between mental health service use (MHSU) and predisposing, enabling, and need factors — derived from Andersen’s model of healthcare-seeking behaviour — among five regional cohorts. Among the 45,542 adults in the study population, 6.3% of respondents reported MHSU and need factors were consistently associated with MHSU.

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2023

Evaluation of the accuracy of the PLCOm2012 6-year lung cancer risk prediction model among smokers in the CARTaGENE population-based cohort

Authors: Rodolphe Jantzen, Nicole Ezer, Sophie Camilleri-Broët, Martin C. Tammemägi, Philippe Broët

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.

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2023

Physical activity-induced alterations of the gut microbiota are BMI dependent

Authors: Shrushti Shah, Chunlong Mu, Shirin Moossavi, Grace Shen-Tu, Kristina Schlicht, Nathalie Rohmann, Corinna Geisler, Matthias Laudes, Andre Franke, Thomas Züllig, Harald Köfeler, Jane Shearer

Researchers assessed physical activity and hand-grip strength’s role in gut microbiome composition in middle-aged adults with normal and overweight body mass index. Data from 443 participants from Alberta’s Tomorrow Project suggest that BMI plays a significant role in modelling PA-induced changes in gut microbiota.

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