 |
CCORT is funded by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Team Grant in Cardiovascular Outcomes Research
|
|
Improving Cardiovascular Disease Surveillance in
Canada's Ethnic Minority Groups
Background
A team of scientists from CCORT and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) have come together to study the role of ethnicity on cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence and prevalence. This work, funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), is being led by Dr. Jack Tu.
CVD, including stroke, is the leading cause of death in Canada and a tremendous burden to the Canadian health care system, with direct and indirect costs estimated at $22 Billion annually (2000).
PHAC and other organizations in Canada have made tremendous strides over the past few years in strengthening Canada's capacity to conduct CVD surveillance. However, most existing surveillance initiatives lack information on the burden of disease in specific ethnic groups.
Objectives
This study will help address a recommendation from the Canadian Heart Health Strategy and Action Plan (CHHS-AP), namely to build Canada's knowledge infrastructure to enhance cardiovascular health, disease prevention and care. It will also enhance Canada's capacity to conduct surveillance of the burden of CVD among the major visible minority groups in Canada.
Study components
The study involves several components including:
- Projects to determine the burden of a) hypertension (high blood pressure); and b) acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) in visible minority populations in Ontario
- An environmental scan of best practices for collecting ethnicity data in health care
Knowledge Translation
We are working with knowledge partners, including the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, to ensure that the findings from this research are made widely available to a range of audiences.
Presentations
Schulich Heart Program Research Day - November 23, 2011
Dr. Jack Tu gave a Key Note Lecture on Ethnicity and Cardiovascular Disease in Ontario as part of the Schulich Heart Program Research Day: State-of-the-Art Cardiovascular Disease Management, November 23, 2011 at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, in Toronto, Ontario.
In this session Dr. Tu described demographic trends which are driving a growing need for coordinated collection of ethnicity data in health care to enable informed and appropriate care. He also described key findings from his team’s research on differences in the prevalence of risk factors and cardiovascular disease in Ontarians across the four major ethnic groups: Chinese, South Asian, Black and White in Ontario, Canada.
Additional presentations on Ethnicity and Cardiovascular Disease in Ontario
- January 19, 2012: Dr. Tu presented to the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Department of Pharmacy
- September 27, 2011: Dr. Tu presented at Research Rounds at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences
Publications resulting from this initiative are available here.
Workshops
Ms. Bobbe Wood, President, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada; Dr. Jack Tu; and Dr. Philip Joseph (for Dr. Sonja Anand), McMaster University; led a well-attended workshop at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, on October 26, 2011 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The workshop, Cardiovascular disease and diabetes in multiculturally diverse communities: Lessons for CVD prevention, treatment, & management, can be viewed here.
Dr. Tu’s presentation addressed Ethnicity, CVD and Diabetes, highlighting how the burden of CVD and diabetes varies significantly across Ontario’s four major ethnic groups (Chinese, South Asian, Black, White). These findings plus recent demographic trends underscore the need for a) more research to study the relationship between risk factors, CVD events and long-term survival in different ethnic groups and b) collection of ethnicity data to enable this important research.
Questions/Contact Information
For more information regarding this initiative please contact:
Linda Donovan, BScN MBA
Project Manager
Canadian Cardiovascular Outcomes Research Team
c/o Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences
G-106 2075 Bayview Avenue
Toronto, Ontario M4N 3M5
e: linda.donovan@ices.on.ca
p: 416 480 4055 83773
f: 416 480 6048
|
|