Ontario disease study seeks volunteers

Adults in Ontario can participate in a long-term study that aims to understand what factors increase the risk of heart disease, cancer and other health conditions.

The study is billed as the largest population-based health study conducted in the province. 

'This is the leading edge of population-based research.' —  Lyle Palmer

Heart disease and cancer are the leading causes of death in adults in Ontario, the researchers said.

The study will look at the "complex web of factors" that increase the risk of the two diseases, as well as diabetes, asthma, Alzheimer's disease and other common conditions, the province said in a release.

People over 18 years old are invited to enroll by filling in an online questionnaire about their personal and family medical history, where they live, and their lifestyle and diet.

The goal is to learn how factors such as environment, lifestyle, behaviour and genetics interact with one another and lead to development of common disease.

Engaging community

Prof. Lyle Palmer, executive scientific director of the Ontario Health Study, and his colleagues also hope to shed light on how diseases relate to each other — for example, why depression is closely associated with heart disease.

Ontario's ethnic, cultural and geographic diversity means the research results will be of interest outside of Canada, said Palmer.

"No one has ever tried to engage community at this scale," Palmer said. "This is the leading edge of population-based research."

The research aims to follow participants over their lifespan to study the development and progression of health conditions in the general population.

In the next phase of the study, some volunteers will be asked to provide more detailed lifestyle and diet data and information about health indicators including lung and cardiovascular function, eye disease and mental health.

Sarabjit Rana of Mississauga, Ont., participated in the pilot phase of the study and is now trying to recruit people from her Sikh community to take part in the research.

"I know that our community, unfortunately, is more prevalent in terms of I guess seeing sort of different diseases that come across ... because of our lifestyle, perhaps some of the foods we eat," said Rana.

The study is being funded by the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Cancer Care Ontario, the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion and the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer.