Grant: Project Grant - PA: Women's Health Research - Early Career Researcher Grant

Cancer of the uterus, also known as endometrial cancer, is the most common gynecological cancer in Canada and the developing world, and is increasingly affecting women and all individuals with a uterus. Identifying those at high risk for endometrial cancer in the general population allows us to direct them to risk-reducing and screening programs for early detection. We want to better understand what factors lead to endometrial cancer. We previously proposed to validate models that predict cancer risk using participants characteristics using data from the large Canadian partnership for tomorrow health study, CanPATH, which recruited and followed thousands of healthy Canadians for many years. At the time of recruitment, CanPATH participants filled out questionnaires that collected health information about their lifestyle habits. We have linked this information with provincial cancer registries and administrative databases in three provinces, to monitor which participants eventually received an endometrial cancer diagnosis or had any underlying conditions that may ultimately lead to one. In this study, we propose to improve risk modelling by including additional data, such as environmental exposure data, from the CANUE database, as well as genetic data, previously measured on a subset of CanPATH participants. In addition, the data we have obtained from linking to medical databases enables us to see what happened to participants over time. This gives us the opportunity to update their risk calculations to take into account any changes that influence risk. This research will give us an encompassing view of what factors most influence risk so that they can be used in risk prediction models that guide which participants can benefit from risk-reducing and early detection programs.