Maelstrom Research

CARTaGENE

CARTaGENE is a prospective cohort study collecting data for the investigation of modifiable environmental and lifestyle factors and the genomic determinants of chronic diseases in Quebec, Canada.

Overview

Acronym

CaG

Website

CaG

Investigators

Dr. Simon Gravel

McGill University

Dr. Vikki Ho

Centre de recherche du centre Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal

Dr. Guillaume Lettre

Montreal Heart Institute Research Centre

Contacts

Bureau d'accès

CARTaGENE

General Design

Study design

Cohort

Start - End Year

2009 -

General Information on Follow Up (profile, frequency)

The first recruitment phase took place between July 2009 and March 2011, followed by additional data collections in 2009–2014 (BALSAC collaboration), 2011, and 2012. A second recruitment phase occurred from November 2012 to February 2015. Participants were subsequently followed up in 2015–2017, 2016–2019, and through multiple COVID-19 follow-ups conducted in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Recruitment Target

Individuals

Number of Participants

43,034

Number of Participants with Biological Samples

30,226

Access

Availability of data and biosamples

Possible Access to Data
Possible Access to Biosamples
Other

Other

* Genetic data (Genotyping, RNA-sequencing, Whole genome sequencing) * Medical imaging (brain and heart MRI, ECG)

Additional Information

To complete a data access request: https://sdas.cartagene.qc.ca/ If you have any question regarding access to CaG data and biosamples, please contact the access office.

Availability of access information

On the study website : http://www.cartagene.qc.ca/en
By contacting the study representative: Access coordinator (CARTaGENE – CHU Sainte-Justine)

Sector of research

	Possible Access to Data	Possible Access to Biosamples
Investigators from the public sector
Investigators from the private sector
Investigators from not-for-profit organization

Transfer

	Possible Access to Data	Possible Access to Biosamples
Can leave the study facility
Can leave the country

Cost

Possible Access to Data	Fixed Cost
Possible Access to Biosamples	Fixed Cost

Cost reduction for co-analyses

Possible Access to Data
Possible Access to Biosamples

Yes

Not applicable

Don't know

Marker Papers

Awadalla P, Boileau C, Payette Y, et al. Cohort profile of the CARTaGENE study: Quebec's population-based biobank for public health and personalized genomics. Int J Epidemiol, 2013; 42:1285-1299.

PUBMED 23071140

Supplementary Information

Some follow-ups are led directly by the CARTaGENE team, while others are conducted in collaboration with external research groups focusing on specific scientific themes. **BALSAC collaboration** * One of these collaborations involves the BALSAC population registry, a genealogical dataset developed at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. During both recruitment phases, participants were invited to complete the BALSAC genealogical questionnaire. A second phase of data collection was carried out in 2024 for participants who had not completed the questionnaire at baseline. **CAHHM collaboration** * Another collaboration is with the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds (CAHHM), a project aiming to understand the association of socio-environmental and contextual factors with cardiovascular risk factors, subclinical vascular disease, and cardiovascular and other chronic disease outcomes. Only a subset of participants residing in Montreal and Quebec were invited to take part in this data collection. **The corresponding data dictionary is available in the “Documents” section below.**

Timeline

Population

Information about socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle, mental health, psychosocial environment, personal and family history of disease, healthcare utilization, medication use, and women and men’s reproductive health and history is collected through the health and lifestyle questionnaire. Cognitive function is assessed. Anthropometric, blood pressure, bioimpedance, grip strength, bone density, lung function, arterial stiffness, and partial resting electrocardiogram measures are taken. Blood, saliva and urine samples is also collected. Linkage with administrative health and environmental databases is completed. Data on diagnoses, ambulatory and inpatient care and prescribed medications are obtained from the RAMQ and MSSS databases. Environmental exposure data is obtained from CANUE.

Start Date

2009 (July)

End Date

2011 (March)

Data sources

Questionnaires
Cognitive measures
Physical measures
Biosamples
Administrative databases

Data sources - Biosamples

Blood
Urine
Saliva

Data sources - Administrative databases

Health databases
Vital statistics databases
Environmental databases

Information about places and dates of birth, marriage and death for the participant, their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents is collected though questionnaire. Linkage with the databases of Quebec's civil registry records is completed, allowing for the automatic reconstruction of families and genealogical lineages over four centuries.

Start Date

2009 (July)

End Date

2024 (June)

Data sources

Questionnaires
Administrative databases

Data sources - Administrative databases

Vital statistics databases

Information is collected on about job characteristics, employment duration, environmental exposures at work, means of transportation, residence location, duration of residence occupancy and residence characteristics through questionnaire. Linkage with administrative environmental databases is completed. Environmental exposure data is obtained from CANUE.

Start Date

2011

End Date

2011

Data sources

Questionnaires
Administrative databases

Data sources - Administrative databases

Environmental databases

Information about foods and beverages consumed, consumption of vitamins and supplements and usage of water treatment devices is collected.

Start Date

2012

End Date

2012

Data sources

Questionnaires

Information about socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle, mental health, psychosocial environment, personal and family history of disease, healthcare utilization, medication use, women and men’s reproductive health and history, and self-reported anthropometric measurements is collected through the health and lifestyle questionnaire. Blood samples is also collected. Linkage with administrative health and environmental databases is completed. Data on diagnoses, ambulatory and inpatient care and prescribed medications are obtained from the RAMQ and MSSS databases. Environmental exposure data are obtained from CANUE.

Start Date

2012 (November)

End Date

2015 (February)

Data sources

Questionnaires
Biosamples
Administrative databases

Data sources - Biosamples

Blood

Data sources - Administrative databases

Health databases
Vital statistics databases
Environmental databases

Information about socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle, psychosocial environment, beliefs and values, personal history of disease, healthcare utilization and medication use is collected through the CAHHM questionnaire. Cognitive function is assessed. Anthropometric, blood pressure and body composition measures are taken. Heart, brain, carotid and abdomen measures are taken through MRI. Blood samples is also collected. See detailed project description: [CAHHM](https://www.maelstrom-research.org/study/cahhm)

Start Date

2015 (March)

End Date

2017 (July)

Data sources

Questionnaires
Cognitive measures
Physical measures
Biosamples

Data sources - Biosamples

Blood

Information about socio-demographic factors, lifestyle, mental health, psychosocial environment, personal and family history of disease, healthcare utilization, medication use, women and men’s reproductive health and history, and self-reported anthropometric measurements is collected though the health and lifestyle questionnaire. Linkage with administrative health and environmental databases is completed. Data on diagnoses, ambulatory and inpatient care and prescribed medications are obtained from the RAMQ and MSSS databases. Environmental exposure data are obtained from CANUE.

Start Date

2016 (December)

End Date

2019 (August)

Data sources

Questionnaires
Administrative databases

Data sources - Administrative databases

Health databases
Vital statistics databases
Environmental databases

Information on COVID-19 test results/suspected infection, symptoms experienced (if any), hospitalizations or received medical care, potential source of exposure, impact of pandemic on job status and on mental, emotional, social and financial well-being, socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle, personal medical history, medication use, and self-reported anthropometric measurements is collected through questionnaire. Linkage with administrative health and environmental databases is completed. Data on diagnoses, ambulatory and inpatient care and prescribed medications are obtained from the RAMQ and MSSS databases. Environmental exposure data are obtained from CANUE.

Start Date

2020 (June)

End Date

2020 (July)

Data sources

Questionnaires
Administrative databases

Data sources - Administrative databases

Health databases
Vital statistics databases
Environmental databases

Information is collected on COVID-19 test results/suspected infection, symptoms experienced (if any), hospitalizations or received medical care, potential source of exposure, COVID vaccination, impact of pandemic on job status and on mental, emotional, social and financial well-being, socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle, personal medical history, medication use, and self-reported anthropometric measurements. Blood spots is also collected. Linkage with administrative health and environmental databases is completed. Data on diagnoses, ambulatory and inpatient care and prescribed medications are obtained from the RAMQ and MSSS databases. Environmental exposure data was obtained from CANUE.

Start Date

2021 (March)

End Date

2021 (May)

Data sources

Questionnaires
Biosamples
Administrative databases

Data sources - Biosamples

Blood

Data sources - Administrative databases

Health databases
Vital statistics databases
Environmental databases

Data is collected for a subgroup of participants. Information on COVID-19 test results/suspected infection, symptoms experienced (if any), hospitalizations or received medical care, potential sources of exposure, COVID vaccination, impact of pandemic on mental well-being, and lifestyle is collected. Blood samples are also collected. Linkage with administrative health and environmental databases is completed. Data on diagnoses, ambulatory and inpatient care and prescribed medications is obtained from the RAMQ and MSSS databases. Environmental exposure data is obtained from CANUE.

Start Date

2021 (October)

End Date

2021 (December)

Data sources

Questionnaires
Biosamples
Administrative databases

Data sources - Biosamples

Blood

Data sources - Administrative databases

Health databases
Vital statistics databases
Environmental databases

Data is collected for a subset of participants. Information on COVID-19 test results/suspected infection, symptoms experienced (if any), hospitalizations or received medical care, potential sources of exposure, COVID vaccination, impact of pandemic on mental well-being, and lifestyle is collected. Blood samples are also collected. Linkage with administrative health and environmental databases is completed. Data on diagnoses, ambulatory and inpatient care and prescribed medications are obtained from the RAMQ and MSSS databases. Environmental exposure data are obtained from CANUE.

Start Date

2022 (March)

End Date

2022 (July)

Data sources

Questionnaires
Biosamples
Administrative databases

Data sources - Biosamples

Blood

Data sources - Administrative databases

Health databases
Vital statistics databases
Environmental databases

Data is collected for a subset of participants. Information on COVID-19 test results/suspected infection, symptoms experienced (if any), hospitalizations or received medical care, COVID vaccination, long COVID, impact of pandemic on mental, emotional, social and financial well-being, lifestyle, personal medical history, and self-reported anthropometric measurements is collected. Blood samples are also collected. Linkage with administrative health and environmental databases is completed. Data on diagnoses, ambulatory and inpatient care and prescribed medications are obtained from the RAMQ and MSSS databases. Environmental exposure data are obtained from CANUE.

Start Date

2022 (April)

End Date

2022 (June)

Data sources

Questionnaires
Biosamples
Administrative databases

Data sources - Biosamples

Blood

Data sources - Administrative databases

Health databases
Vital statistics databases
Environmental databases

NutriQuébec is the largest nutrition and population health study ever conducted in Quebec. NutriQuébec collects information on a wide range of health-related factors from thousands of Quebec residents over an extended period of time in order to understand how dietary habits and lifestyle behaviours affect their health. This study will help identify factors associated with social inequalities that influence the relationships between lifestyle habits and health, and will support the development of intervention targets for at-risk populations. Participants are followed annually. The NutriQuébec questionnaire has collected information on sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle habits, health status, quality of life, and anthropometric measures. Participants were also invited to complete two 24-hour dietary recalls.

Start Date

2024 (June)

End Date

2024 (September)

Data sources

Questionnaires

Start Date

2025 (June)

End Date

2025 (September)

Data sources

Questionnaires

CaG population

The CaG cohort consists of men and women aged between 40 and 69 years and residing in metropolitan areas of Quebec at the time of recruitment.

Selection Criteria

Minimum age

Maximum age

Countries

Canada

Canadian Provinces

Quebec

Territory

Montreal, Quebec, Sherbrooke and Saguenay for recruitment phase A. Trois-Rivières and Gatineau were added for recruitment phase B.

Other Criteria

Participants were excluded if they were not registered in the FIPA files, if they resided outside the selected regions, lived in First Nations Reserves or long-term healthcare facilities or were in prison.

Sources of Recruitment

General Population

Selected sample
Random digit dialing

Supplementary Information

Participants were randomly chosen to be broadly representative of the population based on provincial health insurance registries—FIPA files (fichier administratif des inscriptions des personnes assurées de la Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ)).

Sample Size

Number of Participants: 43,034
Number of Participants with Biological Samples: 30,226
Supplementary information about number of participants: Recruitment (2009):  19,985 participants
BALSAC collaboration (2009):  11,467 participants
Residential history (2011):  11,653 participants
Occupational history (2011):  10,891 participants
Nutrition (2012):  10,073 participants
Recruitment (2012):  23,049 participants
CAHHM collaboration (2015):  1,746 participants
Health follow-up (2016):  17,004 participants
COVID-19 (2020-06):  8,187 participants
COVID-19 (2021-03):  6,264 participants
COVID-19 (2021-10):  672 participants
COVID-19 (2022-03):  3,253 participants
COVID-19 (2022-04):  580 participants

Data Collection Events

#	Name	Data sources	Data sources - Biosamples	Start	End
0	CaG - Recruitment - 2009	Questionnaires Cognitive measures Physical measures Biosamples Administrative databases	Blood Urine Saliva	2009 (July)	2011 (March)
1	CaG - BALSAC collaboration - 2009	Questionnaires Administrative databases		2009 (July)	2024 (June)
2	CaG - Occupational and residential history - 2011	Questionnaires Administrative databases		2011	2011
3	CaG - Nutrition - 2012	Questionnaires		2012	2012
4	CaG - Recruitment - 2012	Questionnaires Biosamples Administrative databases	Blood	2012 (November)	2015 (February)
5	CaG - CAHHM collaboration - 2015	Questionnaires Cognitive measures Physical measures Biosamples	Blood	2015 (March)	2017 (July)
6	CaG - Health follow-up - 2016	Questionnaires Administrative databases		2016 (December)	2019 (August)
7	CaG - COVID-19 - 2020-06	Questionnaires Administrative databases		2020 (June)	2020 (July)
8	CaG - COVID-19 - 2021-03	Questionnaires Biosamples Administrative databases	Blood	2021 (March)	2021 (May)
9	CaG - COVID-19 - 2021-10	Questionnaires Biosamples Administrative databases	Blood	2021 (October)	2021 (December)
10	CaG - COVID-19 - 2022-03	Questionnaires Biosamples Administrative databases	Blood	2022 (March)	2022 (July)
11	CaG - COVID-19 - 2022-04	Questionnaires Biosamples Administrative databases	Blood	2022 (April)	2022 (June)
12	CaG - Nutrition - 2024	Questionnaires		2024 (June)	2024 (September)
13	CaG - Nutrition - 2025	Questionnaires		2025 (June)	2025 (September)

Participating Studies

Acronym	Name	Study design	Countries

Harmonization Initiatives Included

Acronym	Name

Datasets

Search Variables

Name	Data Collection Events	Variables

Variables Content Summary

Areas of Information Collected per per Population and Data Collection Event

Networks

Acronym	Name	Harmonization Initiatives	Individual Studies

Last Update: 2026-07-06T16:52:55.686

CARTaGENE

Overview

Simon Gravel

Vikki Ho

Guillaume Lettre

Bureau d'accès

General Design

Access

Representative

Marker Papers

Supplementary Information

Documents

Timeline

Population

CaG - Recruitment - 2009

CaG - BALSAC collaboration - 2009

CaG - Occupational and residential history - 2011

CaG - Nutrition - 2012

CaG - Recruitment - 2012

CaG - CAHHM collaboration - 2015

CaG - Health follow-up - 2016

CaG - COVID-19 - 2020-06

CaG - COVID-19 - 2021-03

CaG - COVID-19 - 2021-10

CaG - COVID-19 - 2022-03

CaG - COVID-19 - 2022-04

CaG - Nutrition - 2024

CaG - Nutrition - 2025

Selection Criteria

Sources of Recruitment

Sample Size

Documents

Data Collection Events

Participating Studies

Harmonization Initiatives Included

Datasets

Areas of Information Collected

Variables Content Summary

Areas of Information Collected

Areas of Information Collected per per Population and Data Collection Event

Networks