Enriching the CLSA with environmental exposure data: The Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium

The Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium (CANUE) is a CIHR-funded initiative, which collates and develops standardized urban environmental exposure data and links them to health databases to support environmental health research in Canada. CLSA and CANUE have collaborated to link data on air quality, neighbourhood factors, weather and climate, and greenness indicators to CLSA data on health and aging. The linked data, now available to all Canadian researchers, includes estimated exposures of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and fine particulate matter, as well as information about nighttime light, normalized difference vegetation index (i.e. greenness), health-relevant climate and weather measures, material and social deprivation indices and the Canadian Active Living Environments (i.e. walkability) index.

This webinar will give an overview of CANUE and of pre-linked environmental exposure data currently available to researchers through the CLSA. The webinar will also touch on methods for expanding the breadth and quality of environmental exposures available to the CLSA and other Canadian cohorts. In collaborating with the CLSA, CANUE ultimately aims to enable research on how environmental factors affect the ways in which Canadians age and help better inform evidence-based strategies for planning healthy and age-friendly communities and cities across Canada.

Registration is free. Register for free at bit.ly/clsawebinars