Publications

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

2019

Depressive symptoms and sleep problems as risk factors for heart disease: a prospective community study.

Authors: SS Deschenes, R Burns, E. Graham., N. Schmitz.

The goal of this study was to see if there was an association between depressive behavior, sleep problems and risk of developing heart disease in the sample population. Using CARTaGENE data, they were able to determine that depression and sleep disorders are independent factors of heart disease and area associated with a stronger risk of heart disease when occurring together.

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2019

Rheumatoid arthritis-relevant DNA methylation changes identified in ACPA-positive asymptomatic individuals using methylome capture sequencing

Authors: Xiaojian Shao, Marie Hudson, Ines Colmegna, Celia Greenwood, Marvin Fritzler, Philip Awadalla, Tomi Pastinen, Sasha Bernatsky

They wanted to compare DNA methylation in subjects postivie/negative for anti-citrullinated protein antibodies which is a key marker for rheumatoid arthritis. They measured the DNA methylation of 137 subjects, 63 who were ACPA-positive, 66 were negative and 8 were self-reported with their rheumatoid arthritis.

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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

The Establishment of the Household Air Pollution Consortium (HAPCO)

Authors: H. Dean Hosgood, Madelyn Klugman, Keitaro Matuso, Alexandra White, Atusko Sadakane, Xiao-Ou Shu, Ruy Lopez-Ridaura, Aesun Shin, Ichiro Tsuji, Reza Malekzadeh, Nolwenn Noisel, Parveen Bhatti, Gong Yang, Eiko Saito, Shaifuir Rahman, Wei hu, Bryan Bassig, George Downward, Roel Vemeulen, Xiaonan Xue, Thomas Rohan, Sarah Abe, Philippe Broet, Eric Grant, Trevor Dummer, Nat Rothman, Manami Inoue, Martin Lajouis, Keun-Young Yoo, Hidemi Ito, Dale Sandler, Habib Ashan, Wei Zheung, Paolo Boffetta, Qing Lan

This article looked at some of the dangers surrounding household air pollution and and it’s association with lung cancer. The Household Air Pollution Consortium will make sure that there is research being done to address public health concerns associated with HAP.

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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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2019

Diet quality and risk factors for cardiovascular disease among South Asians in Alberta.

Authors: CB Chan FB Subhan

A retrospective analysis of data collected from 140 South Asian adults participating in the Alberta’s Tomorrow Project was conducted. Dietary intake was assessed using a questionnaire and the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) was used an indicator of overall diet quality and adherence to dietary recommendations made by Health Canada. Central obesity (70%), hypercholesterolemia (27%), and hypertension (14%) were predominant health conditions observed in the study participants.

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2019

Harmonization of the Health and Risk Factor Questionnaire data of the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project: a descriptive analysis

Authors: Isabel Fortier, Nataliya Dragieva, Matilda Saliba, Camille Craig, Paula J. Robson

This paper describes how data is harmonized the health and risk factor questionnare and provides an overview of information required to use the core data that has been created. The reason for the harmonization is to have a unique data set including data on health and risk factors from over 307000 Canadians.

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2019

Care quality for rheumatoid arthritis patients in Quebec

Authors: Zeinab Slim, Cristiano Moura, Sasha Bernatsky, Elham Rahme

The main objectives of this study were to determine the number of CARTaGENE participants with rheumatoid arthritis that fulfilled pre-specified quality indicators and to examine the variation in DMARD use with respect to patient age,sex, education, and income. They assessed ~20000 people, and 142 rheumatoid arthritis patients. Quality Indicators that pertained to RA pharmacotheraphy and medical treatment ranged from 60-80%,. With lifestyle factors, 55% had moderate physical activity and less than 17% were reported to be smokers.

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2019

Dissecting features of epigenetic variants underlying cardiometabolic risk using full-resolution epigenome profiling in regulatory elements.

Authors: Fiona Allum, Åsa K. Hedman, Xiaojian Shao, Warren A. Cheung, Jinchu Vijay,Frédéric Guénard, Tony Kwan, Marie-Michelle Simon, Bing Ge, Cristiano Moura, Elodie Boulier, Lars Rönnblom, Sasha Bernatsky, Mark Lathrop, Mark I. McCarthy, Panos Deloukas, André Tchernof, Tomi Pastinen, Marie-Claude Vohl, Elin Grundberg

The research team looked up 1) genetic and 2) epigenetic regulation via intergrational studies. The comprehensive sequencing of regulatory elements methylomes reveals lots of information of functional variants linked genetically as well as epigentically to plasma lipid traits.

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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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