Landmark Cancer Study Gets Underway in Nova Scotia

Communicator — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:33:19 +0000

With the launch of its first assessment centre in Halifax on March 5, the Atlantic Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health (PATH) is opening a new front in the fight against cancer in Atlantic Canada.

The Atlantic PATH is part of the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project, a $42 million national study funded by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer. This study will follow the health of 300,000 Canadians for up to 30 years to determine what role lifestyle, the environment and genetics play in the development of cancer.

Atlantic PATH’s assessment centre, located on the second floor of the Halifax Shopping Centre Annex (formerly the West End Mall) will collect lifestyle information, biological samples and physical measurements from men and women aged 35 to 69 who volunteer to take part in the landmark study. The Halifax centre is one of several planned in the four Atlantic provinces. The others will open in the coming months, as efforts to recruit 30,000 study participants move into high gear. People who want to learn more can go to the Atlantic PATH website at www.atlanticpath.ca or call 1-877-285-7284.

“This study will provide an enormous bank of information for researchers to draw upon to help identify the causes of cancer and, in turn, develop better detection, treatment and prevention methods,” says Dr. Louise Parker, principal investigator for the Atlantic PATH. “Future generations – the children and grandchildren of our study participants – will be the beneficiaries.”

The research is particularly important in the Atlantic provinces, which have the highest rates of cancer in Canada. Each year, more than 13,400 Atlantic Canadians are diagnosed with cancer and 6300 die of it.

Rick Hyde

Landmark Cancer Study Gets Underway in Nova Scotia