User:In4tomorrow/sandbox

Alberta's Tomorrow Project (ATP) is a causative, cohort based epidemiology study based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada that is focused on building a research platform for cancer and other chronic disease.

History of the Study
Alberta’s Tomorrow Project was launched in 1999 to explore the feasibility of creating and sustaining a longitudinal cohort of adults that could be used to study the etiology of cancer and other chronic diseases. The success of Alberta’s feasibility studies was influential in convincing the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer to support the establishment of Canada’s largest population health research platform - the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project. This platform was launched in 2008, and currently involves over 300,000 Canadians from eight provinces The major operational goals of Alberta’s Tomorrow Project until 31st March 2015 were to: •	enroll 50,000 Albertans aged 35-69y who had not had a diagnosis of cancer; •	enroll 40,000 of those participants to the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project; •	obtain biological samples (blood/urine or saliva) from at least 30,000 participants; •	contribute to the creation of a harmonized dataset for the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project

Health Lifestyle Questionnaire (HLQ)
This questionnaire contained sections about personal and family health history, cancer screening tests, reproductive health, smoking, sun exposure, spirituality, social support and stress, body measurements and demographics. More information about the sources of questions used in the HLQ can be found in our paper concerning the background and development of the Tomorrow Project.

Diet History Questionnaire (DHQ)
This food frequency questionnaire was designed to assess food and nutrient intakes in the year prior to questionnaire completion. It was developed originally by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the USA. It has since been modified for use in Canada by Dr. Ilona Csizmadi of Alberta Health Services, in collaboration with colleagues at the US NCI.

Physical Activity Questionnaire (PAQ)
The PAQ was designed to obtain information about the types and amounts of physical activities undertaken by respondents in the year prior to questionnaire completion. It asks respondents to think about the types of activities that they do in their occupation and volunteer work, in their household, in their leisure time, and in getting to and from work. This questionnaire was developed by Dr. Christine Friedenreich of Alberta Health Services.

Follow Up Questionnaires
Follow-up questionnaires are distributed to participants at varying intervals following enrolment in the study.

Survey 2004
Survey 2004 was distributed in 2004 to people who joined the study between 2001 and 2003. It had questions on personal health, cancer screening tests, sun exposure, smoking, body measurements, lifetime weight pattern, alcohol, sleep and shift work, health risk perception, quality of life, hormone replacement therapy in women and demographics.

Survey 2008
Survey 2008 was distributed in 2008 to people who joined the study between 2001 and 2007. This questionnaire included information on residential history, personal and family health, cancer screening tests, smoking, quality of life, fruit and vegetable intake, physical activity, sleep and shift work, environment, work history, body measurements and demographics.

Next Steps
Alberta’s Tomorrow Project has amassed rich repositories of information and biological samples donated by almost 50,000 Albertans to support a broad range of research in cancer and chronic disease etiology. A proportion of the information and materials held in the repositories will be contributed to the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project, but Alberta’s Tomorrow Project holds additional samples collected from participants before the pan-Canadian project came into existence. Participants have also consented to linkage of their questionnaire information with data held in administrative databases, meaning that there is tremendous potential to explore how use of health services, behaviour, and environments interact to influence health status.

Currently, Alberta’s Tomorrow Project is putting systems in place to support access by qualified researchers to the repositories of data and biological samples. Partnerships are also being established with the academic community within and beyond Alberta to help build capacity in analysis of the data and samples. Links are also being established with social scientists to support the development and evaluation of participant engagement strategies; an essential component to retaining participants in Alberta’s Tomorrow Project over time. Finally, the recently established Scientific Steering Committee is starting to work on a proposal for collection of additional information from participants that will enrich the existing repositories.

Alberta’s Tomorrow Project is funded by the Alberta Cancer Foundation, the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and the Alberta Cancer Prevention Legacy Fund (administered by Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions), and receives in-kind support from Alberta Health Services.