Validating new coding algorithms to improve identification of alcohol-associated and nonalcohol-associated cirrhosis hospitalizations in administrative databases.

Background: Alcohol (AC) and nonalcohol-associated cirrhosis (NAC) epidemiology studies are limited by available case definitions. We compared the diagnostic accuracy of previous and newly developed case definitions to identify AC and NAC hospitalizations.

Methods: We randomly selected 700 hospitalizations from the 2008 to 2022 Canadian Discharge Abstract Database with alcohol-associated and cirrhosis-related International Classification of Diseases 10th revision codes.

Use of social network analysis in health research: a scoping review protocol.

Introduction: Social networks can affect health beliefs, behaviours and outcomes through various mechanisms, including social support, social influence and information diffusion. Social network analysis (SNA), an approach which emerged from the relational perspective in social theory, has been increasingly used in health research. This paper outlines the protocol for a scoping review of literature that uses social network analytical tools to examine the effects of social connections on individual non-communicable disease and health outcomes.

Flawed reports can harm: the case of supervised consumption services in Alberta.

Supervised consumption services have been scaled up within Canada and internationally as an ethical imperative in the context of a public health emergency. A large body of peer-reviewed evidence demonstrates that these services prevent poisoning deaths, reduce infectious disease transmission risk behaviour, and facilitate clients' connections to other health and social services. In 2019, the Alberta government commissioned a review of the socioeconomic impacts of seven supervised consumption services in the province.

The British Columbia Farmers' Market Nutrition Coupon Program Reduces Short-Term Household Food Insecurity Among Adults With Low Incomes: A Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: The British Columbia Farmers' Market Nutrition Coupon Program (BC FMNCP) provides households with low incomes with coupons to purchase healthy foods from farmers' markets.

Objective: To examine the impact of the BC FMNCP on the short-term household food insecurity, malnutrition risk, mental well-being, sense of community (secondary outcomes), and subjective social status (exploratory outcome) of adults with low incomes post-intervention and 16 weeks post-intervention.

Design: Secondary analyses from a pragmatic randomized controlled trial conducted in 2019 that collected data at baseline, post-intervention, and 16 weeks post-intervention.

The contribution of modifiable risk factors to socioeconomic inequities in cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality: A nationally representative population-based cohort study.

This study examined the individual and joint effects of modifiable risk factors mediating the associations between socioeconomic position (SEP) and morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in a nationally representative sample of adults in Canada. Participants in the Canadian Community Health Survey (n = 289,800) were followed longitudinally for CVD morbidity and mortality using administrative health and mortality data. SEP was measured as a latent variable consisting of household income and individual educational attainment.

Impact of a farmers' market healthy food subsidy on the diet quality of adults with low incomes in British Columbia, Canada: a pragmatic randomized controlled trial.

Background: Adults with low incomes have lower diet quality than their higher income counterparts. In Canada, the British Columbia Farmers' Market Nutrition Coupon Program (FMNCP) provides coupons to low-income households to purchase healthy foods in farmers' markets.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the impact of the FMNCP on the diet quality of adults with low incomes.

Variation in Testing for and Incidence of Celiac Autoimmunity in Canada: A Population-Based Study.

Background & Aims: The incidence of biopsy-confirmed celiac disease has increased. However, few studies have explored the incidence of celiac autoimmunity based on positive serology results.

Methods: A population-based cohort study assessed testing of tissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTG-IgA) in Alberta from 2012 to 2020.

Survey Research on Health Inequalities: Exploring the Availability of Indicators of Multiple Forms of Capital in Canadian Datasets.

Much of the extensive quantitative research linking socio-economic position (SEP) and health utilizes three common indicators: income, occupation and education. Existing survey data may enable researchers to include indicators of additional forms of capital in their analyses, permitting more nuanced consideration of the relationship between SEP and health. Our objective was to identify the breadth of survey questions related to economic, cultural, and social capital available through Statistics Canada surveys, and the extent to which those surveys also include health measures.

Quantifying the contribution of modifiable risk factors to socio-economic inequities in cancer morbidity and mortality: a nationally representative population-based cohort study.

Background: Compared with those with a higher socio-economic position (SEP), individuals with a lower SEP have higher cancer morbidity and mortality. However, the contribution of modifiable risk factors to these inequities is not known. This study aimed to quantify the mediating effects of modifiable risk factors to associations between SEP and cancer morbidity and mortality.

How Semantics Connotations May Influence Concerns About Donation of Biospecimens.

Human biological specimen (biospecimen) donation is routinely requested for clinical care and research purposes. Successfully engaging patients and research participants in biospecimen donation depends on what they understand these initiatives entail, including their perceptions of risk. Human biospecimens are stored in facilities routinely referenced as biobanks or biorepositories, both of which labels are known to embody a variety of connotations.

Impact of a farmers' market nutrition coupon programme on diet quality and psychosocial well-being among low-income adults: protocol for a randomised controlled trial and a longitudinal qualitative investigation.

Introduction: Low-income populations have poorer diet quality and lower psychosocial well-being than their higher-income counterparts. These inequities increase the burden of chronic disease in low-income populations. Farmers' market subsidies may improve diet quality and psychosocial well-being among low-income populations.

Incidence of Celiac Disease Is Increasing Over Time: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Objectives: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis that defines the worldwide incidence of celiac disease (CD) and examines temporal trends.

Methods: MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched for population-based studies reporting the incidence of CD in the overall population, children, or adults. No limits were placed on year or language of publication.

Associations of friendship and children's physical activity during and outside of school: A social network study.

Friendships play a significant role in child development and may influence children's physical activity (PA). Using a whole-network approach, this study examined whether school-based friends are more similar in their pedometer-measured PA compared to children who are not friends, and whether these patterns vary by gender, strength of friendship (best vs. close friends), and during vs.

An exploration of the subjective social status construct in patients with acute coronary syndrome.

Background: Perception of low subjective social status (SSS) relative to others in society or in the community has been associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Our objectives were to determine whether low SSS in society was associated with barriers to access to care or hospital readmission in patients with established cardiovascular disease, and whether perceptions of discordantly high SSS in the community modified this association.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study from 2009 to 2013 in Canada, United States, and Switzerland in patients admitted to hospital with acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

A social network analysis of Canadian food insecurity policy actors.

Purpose: This paper aims to: (i) visualize the networks of food insecurity policy actors in Canada, (ii) identify potential food insecurity policy entrepreneurs (i.e., individuals with voice, connections, and persistence) within these networks, and (iii) examine the political landscape for action on food insecurity as revealed by social network analysis.

Association between subjective social status and cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: To determine the association between subjective social status (SSS), or the individual's perception of his or her position in the social hierarchy, and the odds of coronary artery disease (CAD), hypertension, diabetes, obesity and dyslipidaemia.

Study Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Methods: We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, SocINDEX, Web of Science and reference lists of all included studies up to October 2014, with a verification search in July 2015.

Networks of trainees: examining the effects of attending an interdisciplinary research training camp on the careers of new obesity scholars.

Students training in obesity research, prevention, and management face the challenge of developing expertise in their chosen academic field while at the same time recognizing that obesity is a complex issue that requires a multidisciplinary and multisectoral approach. In appreciation of this challenge, the Canadian Obesity Network (CON) has run an interdisciplinary summer training camp for graduate students, new career researchers, and clinicians for the past 8 years. This paper evaluates the effects of attending this training camp on trainees' early careers.

Socioeconomic status and body mass index in Canada: exploring measures and mechanisms.

We examine the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES), sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle behaviors (fruit and vegetable intake, exercise, smoking, and alcohol consumption), and body mass index (BMI) using the Canadian Community Health Survey 2.1. We explore two different measures of SES, education and income, to elucidate material and cultural explanations of the SES-BMI relationship.

Understanding interdisciplinary collaborations as social networks.

The dynamics of interdisciplinary collaboration invite further investigation if we are to make this endeavour more rewarding and productive. We are using social network analysis to track the development of a new interdisciplinary collaboration on complex interventions to improve population health. It involves nineteen scholars across four countries.

Small area contextual effects on self-reported health: evidence from Riverside, Calgary.

Background: We study geographic variation within one community in the City of Calgary using a more fine-grained geographic unit than the Census tract, the Census Dissemination Area (DA). While most Riverside residents consider their neighbourhood to be a fairly cohesive community, we explore the effect of socio-economic variation between these small geographic areas on individuals' self-reported health, net of individual level determinants.

Methods: We merge data from the 2001 Census for Riverside, Calgary with a 2004 random telephone survey of Riverside residents.

Social class, gender, and time use: implications for the social determinants of body weight?

Background: The social gradient in body weight (for example, obesity) departs from the social gradient in other health outcomes. Innovative approaches are needed to understand the observed patterns. This study examines time-use patterns by indicators of socio-economic position, and considers the implications of variations in time use for the social gradient in weight reported in other studies.

Examining the association between socioeconomic position and body mass index in 1978 and 2005 among Canadian working-age women and men.

Objectives: We examined the association between socioeconomic position (SEP) and body mass index (BMI) among Canadian men and women in 1978 and 2005. We examined both the average SEP-BMI association, and variation in this association across the distribution of BMI.

Methods: We analysed data from two nationally representative surveys containing measured height and weight data: the Canada Health Survey (1978) and the Canadian Community Health Survey (2005).

Social class and BMI among Canadian adults: a focus on occupational prestige.

The objective was to examine BMI of working-age Canadian adults in relation to occupational prestige, adjusting for other aspects of social class including household income and respondent's education. We analyzed data from 49,252 adults (age 25-64) from Cycle 2.1 of the Canadian Community Health Survey, a cross-sectional self-report survey conducted in 2003.

Socioeconomic disadvantage within a neighborhood, perceived financial security and self-rated health.

We examine whether perceived financial security mediates the association between social deprivation and self-rated health, using data from a 2004 survey of residents of one neighborhood in Calgary (N=441) and 2001 Census data on the 26 Census Dissemination Areas (DAs) that make up this neighborhood. Net of sociodemographic characteristics of residents, DA disadvantage had significant associations with being in fair/poor or very good health as compared to excellent health. Perceived financial security explained part of this association and influenced health over and above individual- and DA-level sociodemographic characteristics.