Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Current methods of assessing cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in women underestimate their risk. A suggested method of improving CVD risk management is the addition of frailty assessments as vital signs, as frailty, and its intermediary stage pre-frailty, both increase risk for CVD. Biomarkers of frailty, such as myokines, are beginning to become recognized as detectors of early frailty development, but specific frailty biomarkers as predictors of CVD have yet to be identified. Thus, this observational, cohort study aims to examine the interactions of frailty status and biomarkers of cardiovascular health and frailty in the prediction of CVD in 1000 women. Personal Health Information Numbers will be used to access health usage data over the course of the cohort study to determine if participants experienced adverse CVD-related health outcomes. This information will allow for the identification of frailty biomarkers that are associated with CVD risk and adverse CVD outcomes.