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New Cancer Study Seeks 300,000 Volunteers to Provide Insight

Posted on: Wednesday, 11 June 2008, 18:00 CDT

By Lia Levesque, THE CANADIAN PRESS

MONTREAL - About 300,000 volunteers are being sought for what is being described as the biggest survey on cancer ever carried out in Canada.

A variety of factors will be examined in the study, including lifestyle, diet, stress and general health as well as the type of work done by the subject and where they live.

Researchers are looking for people between 35 and 69 years old who will be selected at random for participation in the study. The participants will be followed for a period of between 20 and 30 years in what is called a prospective cohort study.

Researchers will regularly examine the data gathered, which will be derived from blood, nail clippings and other samples, and expect to gain insight into the effectiveness of public health and prevention programs.

"It's an enormous project," said Dr. Phil Branton, scientific chair of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. "I think getting the cohort right is only the beginning. Actually doing it and recruiting the people, it's one of the biggest medical initiatives that's ever been undertaken."

Of the volunteers, 100,000 will be sought in Ontario and 50,000 in Quebec.

The survey, dubbed the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project, is being carried out by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer.

Between 50 and 100 researchers will take part in the survey.

Study funding is comprised of $42 million from the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer along with $41 million in regional commitments.

Project participants include the BC Cancer Agency, the Alberta Cancer Board, Cancer Care Ontario with the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, the Cartagene project in Quebec and Cancer Care Nova Scotia in co-operation with Dalhousie University.

Bartha Knoppers, a spokeswoman for Cartagene, said the study will broaden the pool of resources available to researchers.

"We lack basic tools," she said. "Everything is sectoral and partial. Now we will have a database that takes in the person's environment, his lifestyle - diet, stress, employment, socio-economic factors, the number of children, the distance between workplace and home, for example."

The study was praised in a statement by Health Minister Tony Clement, who described the new initiative as the first of its kind in the world.

Cancer regroups about 200 illnesses.

Incidents of cancer rise about two or three per cent each year in Canada. This year, the medical community estimates 166,400 people will be diagnosed with cancer and 73,800 will die.

About 40 per cent of Canadians develop one form of cancer during the course of their lives.

Cancer is the principal cause of death of middle-aged adults, more than heart disease or injuries.

But there has been progress in the battle against a number of cancers.

The number of deaths from breast cancer has dropped from 31 women out of 100,000 in 1985 to 24 out of 100,000 in 2003.

Lung cancer is expected to kill 59 men out of 100,000 in 2008, compared with 72 men out of 100,000 in 1979.

Source: Canadian Press

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