Browsing by Author "Vena, Jennifer"

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    Normal sex and age-specific parameters in a multi-ethnic population: a cardiovascular magnetic resonance study of the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds cohort
    (2022-01-03) Luu, Judy M.; Gebhard, Catherine; Ramasundarahettige, Chinthanie; Desai, Dipika; Schulze, Karleen; Marcotte, Francois; Awadalla, Philip; Broet, Philippe; Dummer, Trevor; Hicks, Jason; Larose, Eric; Moody, Alan; Smith, Eric E.; Tardif, Jean-Claude; Teixeira, Tiago; Teo, Koon K.; Vena, Jennifer; Lee, Douglas S.; Anand, Sonia S.; Friedrich, Matthias G.
    Abstract Background Despite the growing utility of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) for cardiac morphology and function, sex and age-specific normal reference values derived from large, multi-ethnic data sets are lacking. Furthermore, most available studies use a simplified tracing methodology. Using a large cohort of participants without history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) or risk factors from the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Heart and Minds, we sought to establish a robust set of reference values for ventricular and atrial parameters using an anatomically correct contouring method, and to determine the influence of age and sex on ventricular parameters. Methods and results Participants (n = 3206, 65% females; age 55.2 ± 8.4 years for females and 55.1 ± 8.8 years for men) underwent CMR using standard methods for quantitative measurements of cardiac parameters. Normal ventricular and atrial reference values are provided: (1) for males and females, (2) stratified by four age categories, and (3) for different races/ethnicities. Values are reported as absolute, indexed to body surface area, or height. Ventricular volumes and mass were significantly larger for males than females (p < 0.001). Ventricular ejection fraction was significantly diminished in males as compared to females (p < 0.001). Indexed left ventricular (LV) end-systolic, end-diastolic volumes, mass and right ventricular (RV) parameters significantly decreased as age increased for both sexes (p < 0.001). For females, but not men, mean LV and RVEF significantly increased with age (p < 0.001). Conclusion Using anatomically correct contouring methodology, we provide accurate sex and age-specific normal reference values for CMR parameters derived from the largest, multi-ethnic population free of CVD to date. Clinical trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02220582. Registered 20 August 2014—Retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02220582 .
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    Socio-Economic Equity in Neighbourhood Built Environments and Physical Activity
    (2022-09-21) Christie, Chelsea Desirée; McCormack, Gavin; Friedenreich, Christine; Vena, Jennifer
    Despite well-established health benefits, most adults in Canada do not engage in sufficient physical activity to meet physical activity recommendations. Neighbourhood built environment characteristics, such as pedestrian connectivity, population density, and land use mix are consistently found to be positively associated with physical activity. However, much of this evidence has been derived from studies with samples of adults with higher socioeconomic status (SES). It remains unclear whether similar associations between neighbourhood built environments and physical activity exist amongst adults with lower SES. Furthermore, there is little evidence regarding the extent to which access to physical activity-supportive neighbourhood built environments is equitable across SES groups. The three studies presented in this thesis address these knowledge gaps. The aim of this research was to increase understanding about socioeconomic equity in the associations between neighbourhood built environments and physical activity. The first study involved a systematic review of Canadian research and found that neighbourhood built environment characteristics, such as greenness, density of destinations, and overall walkability were positively associated with physical activity among adults with low SES. The second study included cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of Alberta’s Tomorrow Project data and found that associations between neighbourhood built environments and walking were similar across SES groups. The third study included a cross-sectional analysis of national data from the Canadian Active Living Index and the Canadian Census and found that associations between neighbourhood walkability and home values were conditional on city size and the proportion of detached homes within the neighbourhood. For small and medium sized cities, neighbourhood-level home values tended to be approximately the same (or less expensive) across neighbourhood walkability levels. Within larger cities, however, home values were higher in neighbourhoods with higher walkability. Thus, interventions to increase the amount of affordable housing in high walkable neighbourhoods may be needed in larger cities. Findings from this thesis suggest that modifying existing neighbourhood built environments or building new neighbourhoods to be more supportive of physical activity may be effective ways to increase population-level physical activity without exacerbating socioeconomic disparities in physical activity.
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    Urban design and cardio-metabolic risk factors
    (Elsevier, 2023-05-19) Koohsari, Mohammad Javad; Oka, Koichiro; Nakaya, Tomoki; Vena, Jennifer; Williamson, Tyler; Quan, Hude; McCormack, Gavin R.
    Accumulating evidence suggests that the built environment may be associated with cardiovascular disease via its influence on health behaviours. The aim of this study was to estimate the associations between traditional and novel neighbourhood built environment metrics and clinically assessed cardio-metabolic risk factors among a sample of adults in Canada. A total of 7,171 participants from Alberta’s Tomorrow Project living in Alberta, Canada, were included. Cardio-metabolic risk factors were clinically measured. Two composite built environment metrics of traditional walkability and space syntax walkability were calculated. Among men, space syntax walkability was negatively associated with systolic and diastolic blood pressure (b=-0.87, 95% CI - 1.43, -0.31 and b=-0.45, 95% CI -0.86, -0.04, respectively). Space syntax walkability was also associated with lower odds of overweight/obese among women and men (OR=0.93, 95% CI 0.87, 0.99 and OR=0.88, 95% CI 0.79, 0.97, respectively). No significant associations were observed between traditional walkability and cardiometabolic outcomes. This study showed that the novel built environment metric based on the space syntax theory was associated with some cardio-metabolic risk factors.