Grant: Chair: CIHR Sex and Gender Science Chair - Diabetes

Heart disease is the second leading cause of death of men and women in Canada. In 2017, it accounted for 28,608 deaths in men and 24,421 deaths in women. Despite a growing body of evidence of sex-differences in cardiovascular disease (CVD), several questions remain unanswered. The integrated system of health care delivery in Alberta, with one centralized provider (Alberta Health Services (AHS)) has made the linking of clinical, laboratory, and administrative data possible and offer a unique opportunity to examine novel questions on sex-differences. As part of this program of study, I will develop a retrospective inception cohort of Alberta residents aged between 50-80 years in 2010. Using these data, I plan to perform three studies: the first examines sex-differences in the rates of screening for diabetes, the second explores diabetes as a risk factor for the development of CVD, and the third assesses sex-differences in the use of medications used to treat diabetes.