Health study recruiting 150,000 participants

The Ontario Health Study, one of the largest, most ambitious health research studies ever undertaken in the province, has opened an assessment centre in Sudbury and hopes to recruit up to 5,000 participants in the region.

Lead doctor and cancer epidemiologist Dr. John McLaughlin said the sheer scope of the study in terms of data collection and the 20 to 30-year time span during which researchers will be working with participants has created excitement among medical, scientific, health prevention and lay people throughout Ontario.

The study is being conducted right across the province with the aim of recruiting 150,000 volunteers from diverse backgrounds. It is part of a national cohort cancer prevention study called the "Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow" project that is targeting a total of 300,000 participants in five regions: Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.

Funding partners are the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Cancer Care Ontario, the Ontario Health Agency for Health Protection and Promotion and the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, an independent federally-funded research organization.

The project is unique in that it is focused on prevention, unlike traditional studies that focus on people who are already ill.


Objective

"The ideal way to better understand why people get sick, and ultimately, how we can prevent cancer and other chronic diseases, is to start studying how people live and then to observe over time who gets sick and what the factors are that give rise to increased risks," McLaughlin said.

The study reflects a growing interest by health-care professionals and administrators in understanding how cancer can be prevented.

"In order to understand the complex web of disease, it is important to measure a wide range of factors," McLaughlin said. This includes individual characteristics, an individual's health history, exposure to the environment and a genetic profile.

The age range of participants was chosen to collect baseline information about exposures that may give rise to cancer. However, it is anticipated that as data is collected and studied, the causes of other chronic diseases such as diabetes, myocardial infarction and other cardiovascular conditions may be determined.


Participants

The study is open to residents of Ontario between the ages of 35 and 69 years of age, regardless of their health status or background. McLaughlin said he hopes to recruit people of diverse backgrounds who may not have been well covered historically by similar health studies elsewhere. The Northern Ontario School of Medicine has offered to help and a steering committee has been formed to begin dialogue with First Nation leaders in order to promote the project to Aboriginal communities across Ontario.

The model for the first phase of the study is to go into a community, open an assessment centre, collect the data for a set period of time and then move the centre to another community. Between 10 and 12 regions of the province are being targeted. McLaughlin hopes that more than half of the data is collected through assessment centres. The remainder of the data will be obtained using questionnaires via the Internet or mail in the second phase of the study.

Recruitment and data collection are projected to take several years.

Currently, three assessment centres - in Mississauga, Owen Sound and Sudbury - have collected information from close to 5,000 participants. Across Canada, approximately 20,000 people have volunteered to participate in the study.

The Sudbury assessment centre opened in September and will remain in operation until the end of July. As of the end of February, it recruited approximately 1,000 volunteers, 4,000 short of its goal.


The process

A two to three-hour commitment is required at the outset, with follow-up to be performed by mail or Internet. Those interested in participating are asked to phone the designated call centre (1-866-606-0686) to schedule an appointment at the assessment centre, where they are received and assigned a participation identification number to ensure privacy. All information is kept confidential.

Information about the study is discussed, consent is obtained and a questionnaire is completed.

Afterwards, a nurse performs a contraindications interview with the participant to ensure safe participation in the physical measures of the study.

Another series of medical questions about family history is completed.

Several non-invasive physical measurements are taken, including standing and sitting height, body fat, blood flow, blood pressure, bone fragility, resting heart rate and pulmonary function testing. Urine and blood samples are taken and refreshments are offered at the end of the session. Results from the physical measurements are shared immediately with the client.

Assessment centre manager and registered nurse Nicole Cameron said the numbers coming through the door have fluctuated, but the feedback from participants has been "very positive."

"We try to create the most positive experience for them," she said. "It is a very big study and I feel privileged to be here."  


Tracking

Follow-up will be facilitated through access to health records, for which participants in the study will be asked to provide informed consent.
"That is one way the study can be done very cost-effectively with high-quality information," McLaughlin said.

The short-term goals of the project were carefully developed to enable researchers from across Ontario to address important health questions, such as knowing how risk factor profiles differ among communities. 

"It can happen within a couple of years...which can be a value to the policy makers for public health and clinical programs across Ontario, in addition to enabling the advancement of the scientific research."


www.ontariohealthstudy.ca