Alberta Population Health Laboratory

  • Study cohort: Albertans diagnosed with acute coronary syndromes (ACS), heart failure (HF), non-acute ischemic heart disease (IHD), ventricular arrhythmia (VA), or syncope.
  • Data analyzed includes entries in the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS), the Discharge Abstract Database (DAD), the Alberta Health Practitioner Claims Database, the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan Registry, and the Alberta Vital Statistics Database. These data have been linked, at the postal code level, with Canadian census data and data from the Environment Canada National Ambient Pollution Surveillance (NAPS).
  • These data have been used for several research projects, including the following:
    • Determining the impact of post-discharge access to specialized heart failure clinics on clinical outcomes.
    • Assessing the impact of post-discharge physician follow-up on clinical outcomes for patients with HF.
    • Assessing the use of International Classification of Diseases-10th Revision Codes for identification of HF, ST-elevated (STEMI) and non-ST elevated MI.
    • Determining the impact of air pollution on the incidence of MI.
    • Determining the impact of rural versus suburban residence on clinical outcomes for patients with HF and non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF).
    • Developing models to predict the risk of early re-admission or mortality within 30 days of discharge following a HF hospitalization.
    • Determining the impact of ethnicity on the 1-year mortality rates of patients with HF.
    • Measuring the financial burden on the healthcare system of patients with HF during the last six months of life.
    • Describing the incidence, prevalence and outcomes of patients with HF diagnosed in an outpatient setting, an emergency department setting or in hospital.
    • Determining differences in outcomes for patients with Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACS) or HF based on whether they are admitted to hospitals with low or high volumes of cardiac patients.
  • CVC faculty involvement: Padma Kaul, Finlay McAlister, Justin Ezekowitz