I am delighted to take part in a podcast about the Ontario Health Study (OHS). The study, which I’ve posted about previously, gathers health data by surveying 225,000 Ontario adults who have volunteered. I volunteered a decade ago and have completed several questionnaires since then.

OHS investigates the risk factors that contribute to developing diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. Potential risk factors include individual behaviour (smoking, stress, addiction) and the physical environment (air pollution). The study compares the risk factors for people in the sample who develop a disease with the risk factors for those who don’t.

Victoria Kirsh, the Interim Director of OHS and a professor of epidemiology at the University of Toronto, and I are the two speakers in the podcast. Her explanation of the research designs of several studies is compelling. I speak both as a participant in the study and a lifelong researcher in the social sciences.

I find it fascinating that the OHS links the participants’ responses to questionnaires with their health records in the Ontario health system. This can be done only because of our single-payer public system. In addition to government research grants, OHS depends on the thousands of the Ontarians who volunteer because we believe the scientists will make discoveries that will benefit us all. The podcast just dropped. It is 26 minutes long and I strongly urge any reader who is interested in their own health – which should be every reader – to listen to it. Here’s the link.