Researchers point to diet and lifestyle as a way we can avoid premature death and disability in Canada

Samiah Alam & Dr. Leah Cahill

A national initiative led by researchers at the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) and Dalhousie University studied the burden of diseases and injuries attributable to risk factors in Canada and their paper was recently published in CMAJ Open. 

Nutrition researchers Dr. Leah Cahill(1) and Samiah Alam set out to quantify the determinants of healthy life expectancy in Canada from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors Study (GBD). The GBD study is "an international scientific effort to systematically quantify the comparative magnitude of global health loss resulting from disease, injuries and risk factors to inform evidence-based policy-making." While burden estimates have been presented for individual countries such as the United States, Germany and the UK to help with national policies and prioritizing, Canada had not yet been summarized. 

The top 3 risk factors identified in Canada from the study were (1) tobacco, (2) diet and (3) high body mass index, followed by (4) high fasting plasma glucose, (5) high systolic blood pressure, (6) alcohol and drug use, (7) occupational risks, (8) high total cholesterol, (9) impaired kidney function and (10) air pollution. Cahill hopes the study will inform national health policy by prioritizing these risk factors in Canada. "An understanding of Canada’s foremost health problems, their risk factors, and how both are changing over time is crucial to inform national health policy and programs, health authority planning and scientific research priorities...actionable preventive strategies can lead to improved health outcomes." 

Cahill used three well-established metrics to summarize health loss including
disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), total deaths and years lived with disability . "One DALY is equivalent to 1 year of healthy life (free of disease, injury or disability) lost. Because DALYs quantify both mortality and morbidity, total DALYs are considered to represent the burden of diseases and injuries for a country, indicating the gap between the country’s current health status and an ideal health situation in which the country’s entire population lives to an advanced age, free of disease and disability." 

The trend for Canada from 1990 to 2016 hasn't changed at the top. Tobacco exposure has continued to be the leading risk factor followed by diet, but high BMI and high fasting plasma glucose have both increased, beating out high blood pressure and high cholesterol both of which dropped in rankings over time. 

The good news is that factors proving to be the highest risk, tobacco and diet, are modifiable- change your ways, lower your own risks and reduce Canada's health burden.




1- Leah Cahill, PhD, Affiliated Scientist, QEII Health Sciences Centre, Nova Scotia Health Authority, Howard Webster Department of Medicine Research Chair and Assistant Professor, Dalhousie University, Visiting Scientist, Department of Nutrition, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health

Welcome Dawn Munroe!

Dawn Munroe

Welcome to our new HR Lead, Research- Dawn Munroe!

Dawn joined Research in January 2019 after Judi Thompson’s retirement. Dawn comes to Research after joining NSHA in 2017 following 10 + years in the non-profit sector as a Director of HR.

As HR Lead, Research, Dawn assists in recruitment, screening & selection of new employees, facilitates performance management, advises managers on organizational policy and legislation and provides continued support in all areas of human resources.

Dawn loves being active outdoors and enjoys meeting new people. If you haven’t yet, stop by her office and say hi!

Researcher Profile: Dr. Olga Theou

What is your current research project?

Dr. Olga Theou

I am currently conducting multiple epidemiological and clinical studies in relation to frailty, aging, and physical activity. For example, we’re pilot testing a scale we recently developed that assesses how fit or frail someone is using pictures. We will soon start a clinical trial to examine whether reducing time spent in bed while in hospital will improve the health and recovery of hospitalized older adults.

How did you become interested in your research topic?

Growing up with my grandmother in our house (which is common in Greek culture) is what sparked my interest in aging. Following that, I was lucky to do my MSc at California State University Fullerton where the Center for Successful Aging was housed. There I was not only involved with research on aging but also with exercise training programs for older people across levels of frailty – from extremely fit to severely frail. After that it was clear to me what my research focus would be.

What has been unexpected about your findings so far?

Frailty is reversible even in later stages. Our current health state is the best predictor of our future health state. People on average double their health problems every 15 years but avoiding this decline is possible. Lifestyle changes can assist with preventing decline especially exercise and reducing sedentary time. Our bodies are designed to be upright, however, we spend most of our adult life sitting in a chair or a couch. Reducing sedentary time can have an impact even on the health of apparently healthy people who exercise.

What’s innovative about your research?

Our team has a very interdisciplinary approach to frailty: from understanding the mechanisms of frailty with colleagues in physics, to examining the impact of frailty in the community using large population databases with colleagues in epidemiology, to doing interventional studies on hospitalized patients with the geriatric medicine team.

One word that best describes how you work: Late.

What technology can’t you live without?

Airplanes – allowing me to travel for work but also visit family and friends in Greece.

How do you envision your research benefiting the “public at large” ?

In addition to my research program my plan is to develop evidence-based community programs which will follow an interdisciplinary approach on healthy aging.

Nova Scotia is aging. Unless “we” take this seriously our community will suffer. By “we” I mean the researchers, the health care system, the policy makers, and all the individuals that make up the community. We have long passed our deadline to deal with this!