Grant: Doctoral Research Award : Priority Announcement - Primary Prevention of Cancer

Cancers have been the leading cause of death in Canada at least since the early 2000s. The built environment is the infrastructure and its layout made by humans such as urban green spaces, road networks, and residential and commercial establishments, and there is a growing interest in studying its effect on health, including the risk of cancer. Built infrastructure, such as recreational spaces and walking paths, have resulted in increased physical activity promoting a healthier lifestyle. However, improved infrastructure with increased road connectivity, sidewalk completeness, and access to parks could be associated with increased population density and accompanying negative consequences such as increased pollution levels. Environmental exposures such as air pollution, the extent of greenness and ambient light at night, and modifiable lifestyle factors such as physical activity, diet, smoking, and alcohol intake have been shown to influence the risk of cancer. These environmental and lifestyle factors also affect the levels of metabolites, which are small-molecule biochemicals, such as proteins, in the human body. Metabolites are closely related to disease characteristics and are routinely used for diagnosis, studying disease processes, and discovering disease pathways, including those related to cancer. The study aims to combine data from the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow's Health (CanPath), the Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium (CANUE), and the Where Matters: Health & Economic Benefits Study to investigate the combined effect of the built environment and lifestyle factors on the risk of breast, prostate, lung, and colorectal cancers in British Columbia and Alberta. In addition, to improve our understanding of how the built environment influences health, the study will use previously generated biochemical data in British Columbia to uncover metabolites associated with various aspects of the built environment.