DataNB
The latest from the New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training
Diving into the Data: COPD Diagnoses in New Brunswick
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: April 19, 2023 12:00:00 AM ADT
Category: Health
Working with population data lets researchers do some amazing things, like measure the prevalence of chronic diseases in New Brunswick to help with provincial healthcare planning. When decision makers know what proportion of the population is impacted by a disease, they can better allocate resources to meet New Brunswickers’ health needs. However, working with data isn’t always straightforward, and accurately measuring chronic disease in a population requires understanding how...
Filling in the Gaps for Canada’s Aging Veterans
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: February 27, 2023 12:00:00 AM AST
Category: Seniors , Population Research , Health
When it comes to sources of Veteran data in Canada, the primary resource has been Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC). However, this data may be limited; it is estimated that Veterans using VAC services only account for 19% of Canada’s Veteran population. Furthermore, most of the data from VAC comes from Veterans released from service after 1998, leaving a gap in the data for older veterans. NB-IRDT Research Associate Dr. Sandra Magalhaes is part of a team of researchers working on...
What Impact Do Exercise and Environment Have on Mental Wellness for Canadians Living With Cardiometabolic Disease?
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: February 17, 2023 12:00:00 AM AST
Category: Health
For people living with a cardiometabolic condition such as diabetes, hypertension or heart disease, managing this illness can be a stressful experience on its own. Unfortunately, some may also find themselves experiencing increased mental health concerns such as depression or an anxiety disorder, which can lead to need for additional healthcare services and even hospitalization. Many aspects of our daily lives can be physically and mentally beneficial in managing our cardiometabolic health,...
P2P+ Student Spotlight: Meet the Students Measuring the Impact of COVID-19 on New Brunswickers’ Mental Health
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: January 31, 2023 12:00:00 AM AST
Category: Health , Student Spotlights , Pathways to Professions
Each summer, NB-IRDT hosts cohorts of student research teams as part of its Pathways to Professions (P2P) experiential learning program. For 13 weeks, these students work on New Brunswick-relevant projects while attending a full curriculum of professional skills workshops. Now that the 2022 program has ended, we are excited to share our students’ projects and their findings in our student spotlight series. What is P2P+? P2P+ is a new health-based research stream...
VitalSignsNB Student Spotlight: Meet the Students Examining Access to Healthcare in New Brunswick
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: November 8, 2022 12:00:00 AM AST
Category: Pathways to Professions , Health , Training
Each summer, NB-IRDT hosts cohorts of student research teams as part of its Pathways to Professions (P2P) experiential learning program. For 13 weeks, these students work on New Brunswick-relevant projects while attending a full curriculum of professional skills workshops. Now that the 2022 program has ended, we are excited to share our students’ projects and their findings in our student spotlight series. Now, third up in the series: VitalSignsNB. What is VitalSignsNB? VitalSignsNB is...
NB-IRDT Completes Evaluation of Cost-Effectiveness of Breath-Based Lung Cancer Screenings
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: September 15, 2022 12:00:00 AM ADT
Lung cancer is a dangerous, costly disease to treat. In Canada alone, nearly 30,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer each year, and around 21,000 people die from the disease annually. The cost of treating lung cancer in Canada reaches approximately $2 billion a year, with each case costing around $70,000. Needless to say, this disease is taking a heavy toll on the Canadians who are diagnosed, their families and caregivers, and the health system itself. Of course, many...
If We Build It, Will They Come?
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: June 9, 2022 12:00:00 AM ADT
Category: Health , , Seniors , Youth , Education
In popular culture, one phrase is often used to manifest success: “If you build it, they will come.”While this idea exudes positivity and the power of hard work, we have to question its accuracy in terms of population research.In a province like New Brunswick, which is heavily invested in population growth and recruitment, does building new public facilities and increasing public services actually prompt people to come and stay? And, adversely, does closing public facilities or...
NB-IRDT Wins Grant to Undertake New Study on Workplace Mental Health
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: April 7, 2022 12:00:00 AM ADT
Category: Team News , Media , Health
It is our great pleasure to announce that NB-IRDT has been awarded one of two New Brunswick Mental Health Impact grants for the 2021-2022 year. Awarded by Mental Health Research Canada in partnership with the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation, these grants are intended to support research addressing the mental health needs of New Brunswick communities. To meet this mandate, NB-IRDT is undertaking a new project that focuses on the impact of psychological health problems in the...
How Vulnerable are New Brunswickers and Their Health to Climate Change?
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: March 2, 2022 12:00:00 AM AST
Climate change impacts our weather systems, our food supply, our natural resources, and more – but how could it impact the health of our communities? And how can plans to adapt to climate change modify these impacts? In partnership with the Climate Change Innovation Bureau of Health Canada and the Government of New Brunswick, researchers at NB-IRDT are contributing to the province’s HealthADAPT project by tracking changes in health-related vulnerabilities to help New...
Lumbar Spine Imaging in New Brunswick: The ‘Back Story’
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: February 9, 2022 12:00:00 AM AST
Back pain can be a fairly prevalent, debilitating, and painful problem – especially as we get older! But how often does it warrant an x-ray, or other type of imaging? In 2014, Choosing Wisely Canada was launched to help reduce unnecessary tests and treatments in many areas of healthcare. When it comes to lower back pain, Choosing Wisely only recommends imaging if “red flags” are present. These conditions that warrant diagnostic imaging can include metastatic cancer,...
Air Pollution and Multiple Sclerosis: An Ecological Study | La pollution atmosphérique et la sclérose en plaques : une étude écologique
Sandra Magalhaes
Posted: January 26, 2022 12:00:00 AM AST
The research The objective of this research is to explore the link between air pollution and multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is a chronic progressive neurological disease of young adulthood that results in significant physical and cognitive disability. Rates of MS in NB are among the highest in the world. Greater exposure to air pollution has been previously implicated as risk factor and basic science studies demonstrate that pollutants can cross the blood brain barrier. We previously conducted a...
Regional Health Authorities Dedicate Resources for the Coordination of Data Transfers to NB-IRDT
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: December 2, 2021 12:00:00 AM AST
Since its establishment, NB-IRDT has had a close relationship with both Regional Health Authorities in New Brunswick. Thanks to the Master Data Sharing Agreements in place, NB-IRDT holds various data sets from both the Horizon and Vitalité Health Networks on its secure platform, with more on the way. Recently, both Health Networks have partnered with NB-IRDT on the creation of a Data Coordinator position where dedicated RHA staff perform administrative data extractions and oversee data...
UNB Students Take Hands-On Approach to Research and Policy in New Brunswick
Bethany Jones
Posted: October 28, 2021 12:00:00 AM ADT
Category: Population Research , Economics , Education , Health , Training
The end of 2021 is in sight, and as countries around the world begin to emerge from COVID-19 lockdowns, there is a universal air of uncertainty about the future. In New Brunswick, however, this uncertainty predated the pandemic. For the past few years, the province of New Brunswick has been struggling to address the problems of an aging population, the out-migration of its youth, a shrinking labour force, and the impact these issues have on an already overly burdened health care system....
Student Spotlight: Meet the VitalSignsNB Team
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: October 12, 2021 12:00:00 AM ADT
Category: Media , Training , Health
NB-IRDT’s recent VitalSignsNB project on vaccination delivery in New Brunswick has sparked a great deal of public interest – leading to radio interviews, newspaper articles, and conference proceedings on the results. VitalSignsNB is an important project at NB-IRDT, not only because of its timely and relevant focus but also because it allowed us to partner with the upcoming generation of NB researchers. As part of NB-IRDT’s 2021 Pathways to Professions experiential research...
VitalSignsNB: The Results Are In
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: October 8, 2021 12:00:00 AM ADT
Vaccines have been dominating news outlets this year, with COVID-19 vaccination rates a topic of great interest and even greater concern. In New Brunswick, COVID vaccines are provided free of charge at pharmacies, joining the yearly flu shot as the only other vaccine pharmacists can provide to New Brunswickers at no personal cost to the recipients. Pharmacist-administered COVID vaccines are being subsidized to promote and speed up vaccination among New Brunswickers – but what would...
A Better ‘Shot’ for Health Care in New Brunswick
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: August 23, 2021 12:00:00 AM ADT
Category: Health
Over the past few years, New Brunswick’s health care system has been struggling to improve service delivery, given the shortage of primary care providers and increasing need for health care services among the province’s aging population. With the additional strain COVID-19 has placed on the system, the need to free up resources is more urgent than ever. In 2009, changes in legislation allowed New Brunswick pharmacists to deliver an expanded range of vaccines – a change in...
Update: Survey Results on Mental Health Impacts of COVID-19
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: August 11, 2021 11:00:00 AM ADT
Category: Health
Background Pollara Strategic Insights and Mental Health Research Canada are conducting a series of 13 nationwide surveys to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of Canadians. At NB-IRDT, we are focusing on how New Brunswickers responded. Previously, NB-IRDT reported on the results of Survey 2 (conducted in August 2020). We present here the results from Survey 6 (conducted in April 2021), with the goal of updating key findings and describing new responses. In this poll, for...
Ask Me Anything: A New Brunswick Sexual Health Education Survey
Nancy Gesner, Samantha Fowler
Posted: June 30, 2021 12:00:00 AM ADT
New Brunswick youth have high incidence of sexually transmitted infections, unplanned pregnancy, sexual violations, and dating violence suggestive of high-risk sexual behaviors and a lack of knowledge regarding sexual consent, personal safety, and understanding of healthy relationship characteristics. Positive sexual health communication between parents and their children is an important determinate of the development of healthy sexuality and sexual behaviors; however, parental...
Impacts of COVID-19 on Mental Health
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: May 10, 2021 12:00:00 PM ADT
Category: Health
What impact is COVID-19 having on your mental health? New Brunswickers were asked this very question in a 2020 survey carried out by Mental Health Research Canada and Pollara Strategic Insights. At NB-IRDT, epidemiologist Dr. Sandra Magalhaes and her research team analyzed New Brunswickers’ survey responses. In a recently released report, they identify the impacts of social, economic, and recreational factors on mental health and the impacts of the ongoing pandemic on New Brunswickers'...
Giving New Brunswick Our Best Shot
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: April 12, 2021 12:00:00 PM ADT
Category: Health
At one time, only physicians were allowed to administer vaccinations. In 2009, however, the province of New Brunswick passed legislation allowing pharmacists to do the same. As COVID-19 vaccines are now available, the ability to receive a vaccination from a local pharmacist is becoming more and more important to New Brunswickers. Could pharmacist-administered vaccines boost healthcare in NB? This summer, NB-IRDT researchers Dr. Sandra Magalhaes and Dr. Chris Folkins are leading a team of UNB...
Concepts in Epidemiology
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: April 8, 2021 12:00:00 PM ADT
Category: Health
When diseases like SARS-CoV-2 emerge, epidemiology is key to understanding and controlling the spread of infection. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, “epidemiology” has become a common term in the public realm, appearing in news articles and interviews worldwide. But what exactly is epidemiology? And what does this field of study entail? Epidemiology is the study of how health is distributed in populations and what factors determine good and bad health. The goals of...
Measuring COPD in New Brunswick
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: March 2, 2021 12:00:00 PM AST
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is among the most common chronic diseases in New Brunswick, impacting a person’s ability to breathe and, as a result, their participation in daily social, work, and school activities. COPD has been estimated to affect 24,800-57,000 New Brunswickers over age 35 – and while this large range of numbers indicates just how widespread the disease is, it also poses a problem for healthcare planners and policy makers. After all, strategies to...
Introduction to Regression Workshop
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: February 11, 2021 12:00:00 PM AST
Regression is a powerful statistical tool that is used to understand or to make predictions about the world around us. Understanding what regression is and when and how it is used is the focus of this introductory workshop. The workshop includes a comprehensive introduction to regression methods and its utility. Equipped with this knowledge, participants will feel more confident in their ability to engage in discussions on the use of regression analyses and in interpreting results from...
NB-IRDT Expands Service Offering Through MEKTU
NB-IRDT Staff
Posted: January 25, 2021 12:00:00 PM AST
It’s one thing to implement a program – it’s a whole other matter to determine if the program works and how it can be improved. This is where MEKTU comes in. The Monitoring, Evaluation and Knowledge Transfer Unit (MEKTU) is the new program evaluation unit in NB-IRDT, currently supporting healthy aging in Canada through program evaluation of the Healthy Seniors Pilot Project. A $75 million agreement between the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Province of New Brunswick,...
Research Data From Across Canada
NB-IRDT
Posted: November 16, 2020 12:00:00 PM AST
Category: Health
NB-IRDT is a member of Health Data Research Network Canada (HDRN Canada), a pan-Canadian group of organizations that aims to improve health and well-being by making multi-jurisdictional data more accessible to researchers, institutions and government agencies across Canada for research. HDRN Canada connects individuals and organizations from across the country to share expertise, identify opportunities for collaboration, and foster innovation in ways that respect public expectations and...
Have you heard about QUEST-SJ?
NB-IRDT
Posted: November 3, 2020 12:00:00 PM AST
Category: Health
QUEST-SJ is a group of dedicated healthcare and research professionals, motivated by a shared passion for improving healthcare in our community through collaboration and discussion. Participants come from a wide variety of backgrounds and levels of experience. Join the conversation and collaborate with other QUEST-SJ members; to receive the meeting log-in information, contact quest-sj@unb.ca. Please note that due to COVID-19, monthly meetings are currently being held via Zoom. See the full...
Research at NB-IRDT among 27 Funded NB COVID-19 Projects
NB-IRDT
Posted: August 13, 2020 12:00:00 PM ADT
Category: Health
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers around the world have focused their efforts and expertise on detecting, treating, and responding to the virus and its aftermath. In New Brunswick, research is underway to address the challenges of COVID-19 – not only in relation to its global impact but also regarding specific issues affecting New Brunswick. Recently, 27 New Brunswick research projects were awarded funds of $846,707 through the joint efforts of The New Brunswick...
Artificial Intelligence for Health Task Force Releases Reports
NB-IRDT
Posted: August 12, 2020 12:00:00 PM ADT
Category: Health
In September 2019, CIFAR convened the Artificial Intelligence for Health (AI4H) task force – a group developed to advance the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare. AI4H has released it report, Building a Learning Health System for Canadians, with a focus on: improving the effectiveness, efficiency, and safety of health service delivery, providing insights to inform both disease prevention and policies addressing broader population health, and underpinning the discovery and...
COVID-19 Rapid Response Reports Support Government Response in NB
NB-IRDT and MSSU Staff
Posted: July 15, 2020 12:00:00 PM ADT
Category: Health
The arrival and spread of COVID-19 led to rapid changes to all aspects of our society not the least of which our health care system and our economy. For provincial governments tasked with implementing many of these changes, dealing with the considerable uncertainty is challenging. The New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training (NB-IRDT) and the Maritime SPOR SUPPORT Unit (MSSU) developed a series of Rapid Response Reports to provide provincial government decision makers with...
Are you a New Brunswick English-speaking male over 19 years experienced in or trying to lose weight?
NB-IRDT
Posted: July 14, 2020 12:00:00 PM ADT
Category: Population Research , Health
The purpose of this study is to determine if text message support assists men who are seeking to lose weight. Previously conducted in the United Kingdom, a research team is now looking to conduct the same study in Canada. One component of the study is a survey. Before launching the survey, however, the research team would like to recruit English-speaking men with experience in trying to lose weight to review the proposed survey questions. As the survey questions were previously used in the...
End of life literature review for pandemic response
NB-IRDT
Posted: June 10, 2020 12:00:00 PM ADT
NB-IRDT research analyst Jeff Gaudet was one of several Moncton-based researchers who produced a rapid-response literature review examining issues, concerns, best practices, and recommendations for end of life care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lead author was Marc-Andre Gaudet, an Maritime SPOR SUPPORT Unit (MSSU) researcher. The report was produced to support Vitalité Health Network's pandemic response team prepare for end of life needs of New Brunswick patients. Read the report
NB-IRDT Research Featured in Food Security Webinar
NB-IRDT
Posted: June 2, 2020 12:00:00 PM ADT
Food insecurity touches at least one in every six households in New Brunswick. It takes many forms: anxiety about running out of food, missing meals, and not being able to afford food. NB-IRDT platform research featured prominently in “What the Food?” a Food for All NB webinar on May 20. The first in a series on New Brunswick’s food sector, the talk was titled “Household Food Insecurity & New Brunswick” and featured research by Dr. Valerie Tarasuk of the...
COVID-19 projected outcomes to April 24
NB-IRDT
Posted: April 21, 2020 1:00:00 PM ADT
Category: Health
This rapid response report provides updated projections estimating the trajectory COVID-19 could follow in New Brunswick (NB) if the province has outcomes similar to those of countries and provinces that have to date contained infections relatively successfully. Studying the experiences of the different locations further along in the infection outbreak helps inform how the disease could continue to progress in NB. Variables considered include COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, critical...
COVID-19 rapid response report on healthcare resources
NB-IRDT
Posted: April 21, 2020 12:00:00 PM ADT
Category: Health
Does having dedicated resources – spaces and services – for COVID-19 effectively control the spread, decrease the severity, and mitigate the cost of the disease in terms of costs to health care, societal disruption, health outcomes and lives lost? The NB-IRDT Team examined evidence for the separation of healthcare resources during pandemic medical management to prevent overlap and exposure between point sources of care and health personnel. The Team looked at current evidence for...
NB-IRDT COVID-19 projections show good news for NB
NB-IRDT
Posted: April 8, 2020 2:00:00 PM ADT
UNB’s New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data, and Training’s 10-day COVID-19 outcome model shows New Brunswick is currently tracking towards a best-case scenario outcome, according to data as of April 7. NB-IRDT researchers, led by Dr. Ted McDonald, developed their prediction models by looking at outcome data as of March 31, 2020 from other countries with a range of COVID-19 response strategies, from strict lockdowns and widespread testing to slow implementation of...
The cost of workplace cancers
NBIRDT Staff
Posted: March 9, 2020 12:00:00 AM ADT
Many jobs in New Brunswick involve regular exposure to carcinogens. While it is difficult—and in many cases impossible—to prove a case of cancer was caused by exposure to workplace carcinogens, some occupations are highly correlated with certain types of cancer. But until fairly recently, few occupational cancer cases qualified for Workers Compensation coverage. Firefighters have long waged a battle to prove that their jobs put them at an increased risk for certain types of...
Busier obstetricians means fewer patient complications
Mara Mallory
Posted: February 3, 2020 12:00:00 AM AST
Category: Population Research , Health , Evidence-based Policy
Women undergoing C-sections with lower volume providers or specialists other than obstetricians are at much higher risk of complications Caesarean sections (C-sections) account for approximately 4.9% of all inpatient surgeries in New Brunswick and rates have been rising throughout Canada. NB-IRDT researchers looked at all hospital admissions for C-sections in New Brunswick between April 2004 and March...