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Dr. Anaïs Lacasse creates a gender index thanks to TorSaDe

On September 14, 2020, Dr. Anaïs Lacasse, associate professor in the health sciences department at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), presented her gender index in a webinar organized by the Quebec Population Health Research Network (QPHRN).

Sex and gender variables need to be considered in health research. Addressing these variables allows for a better understanding of the inequalities and social determinants of health, the evolution of diseases and the effects of treatment.

The gender index

Dr. Lacasse took on the huge challenge of conducting a gender-based analysis using data without gender measurement. During the webinar, Dr. Lacasse shared recent work on the development and validation of a new composite gender index based on data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), specifically by studying 60,791 participants from the TorSaDe cohort.

TorSaDe cohort

TorSaDe is an initiative of the Unité de soutien SRAP du Québec and its data access experts. The cohort is designed to study patient care pathways and patients with sensitive conditions requiring ambulatory care. The TorSaDe cohort consists of respondent data from various cycles of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), combined with their medical and administrative data for a 20-year period (1996 to 2016).

In partnership with the Institut de la statistique du Québec, the project is designed to make data on care pathways for a cohort representative of the Quebec population available to Unit-affiliated researchers. This project helps generate useful information for clinicians, decision-makers and organizations to improve care pathways for patients with various health problems, thereby helping to improve their quality of life.

  • Equity, diversity, inclusion, sex and gender
  • Complementary Expertise