• Jack V Tu, Anna Chu, Linda R Donovan, Dennis T Ko, Gillian L Booth, Karen Tu, Laura C Maclagan, Helen Guo, Peter C Austin, William Hogg, Moira K Kapral, Harindra C Wijeysundera, Clare L Atzema, Andrea S Gershon, David A Alter, Douglas S Lee, Cynthia A Jackevicius, R Sacha Bhatia, Jacob A Udell, Mohammad R Rezai, and Thérèse A Stukel.
• From the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (J.V.T., A.C., L.R.D., D.T.K., G.L.B., K.T., L.C.M., H.G., P.C.A., W.H., M.K.K., H.C.W., C.L.A., A.S.G., D.A.A., D.S.L., C.A.J., R.S.B., J.A.U., M.R.R., T.A.S.); Division of Cardiology, Schulich Heart Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (J.V.T., D.T.K., H.C.W.); University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (J.V.T., A.C., D.T.K., G.L.B., K.T., P.C.A., M.K.K., H.C.W., C.L.A., A.S.G., D.A.A., D.S.L., C.A.J., R.S.B., J.A.U., T.A.S.); Division of Endocrinology, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (G.L.B.); Toronto Western Hospital Family Health Team, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (K.T.); Ottawa Research Group for Primary Health Care, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (W.H.); Department of Family Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (W.H.); Division of General Internal Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (M.K.K.); Division of Emergency Medicine (C.L.A.) and Division of Respirology (A.S.G.), Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (D.A.A.); Division of Cardiology, Peter Munk Cardiac Centre and Joint Department of Medical Imaging, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (D.S.L.); College of Pharmacy, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA (C.A.J.); Women's College Hospital Institute for Health Systems Solutions and Virtual Care, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (R.S.B.); Cardiovascular Division, Women's College Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (R.S.B., J.A.U.); and Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, Lebanon, NH (T.A.S.). tu@ices.on.ca.
• Circ Cardiovasc Qual. 2015 Mar 1; 8 (2): 204-12.

BackgroundThe CArdiovascular HEalth in Ambulatory care Research Team (CANHEART) is conducting a unique, population-based observational research initiative aimed at measuring and improving cardiovascular health and the quality of ambulatory cardiovascular care provided in Ontario, Canada. A particular focus will be on identifying opportunities to improve the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular events in Ontario's diverse multiethnic population.Methods And ResultsA population-based cohort comprising 9.8 million Ontario adults ≥20 years in 2008 was assembled by linking multiple electronic survey, health administrative, clinical, laboratory, drug, and electronic medical record databases using encoded personal identifiers. The cohort includes ≈9.4 million primary prevention patients and ≈400,000 secondary prevention patients. Follow-up on clinical events is achieved through record linkage to comprehensive hospitalization, emergency department, and vital statistics administrative databases. Profiles of cardiovascular health and preventive care will be developed at the health region level, and the cohort will be used to study the causes of regional variation in the incidence of major cardiovascular events and other important research questions.ConclusionsLinkage of multiple databases will enable the CANHEART study cohort to serve as a powerful big data resource for scientific research aimed at improving cardiovascular health and health services delivery. Study findings will be shared with clinicians, policy makers, and the public to facilitate population health interventions and quality improvement initiatives.© 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.

45 keywords...

hide…