Fall 2022 Research Update
Congratulations to Fall MScRRPT graduates:
Evan MacEachern - Supervisor: Dr. Kehler
Devan Pancura -Supervisor: Dr. Boe and
Jack Quach - Supervisors: Dr. Kehler
Extra congrats to Jack for his success in the @ccna_ccnv Synapse competition! Which will support the use of machine learning methods to identify potential frailty-related clusters in Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia in the UK Biobank.
Congratulation to Ms. Carolynn Tan, MScRRPT Candidate, (Supervisor - Dr. Rutherford) who successfully defended her thesis entitled: ‘Anticipatory and Reactionary EMG and Knee Joint Kinematics Between Male and Female Athletes during Single-Leg Landing Tasks: Relevance to Non-Contact ACL Injuries’.
President’s Research Excellence Award — Emerging Investigator
The 2022 Legacy Awards event was held on November 7, in the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, Dalhousie Arts Centre. The President’s Research Excellence Awards for Emerging Investigators have been created to honour those who, early in their careers, have made noteworthy contributions to Dalhousie’s research culture.
Dr. Olga Theou is an assistant professor in the School of Physiotherapy, with a cross-appointment in the Faculty of Graduate Studies’ Department of Medicine. In 2019, she was appointed a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Physical Activity, Mobility and Healthy Aging. Named by Expertscape as one of the top scholars writing about Geriatric Assessment, Dr. Theou’s research interests span across various epidemiological and clinical aspects of frailty and aging. She is a two-time recipient of the Faculty of Medicine’s Research Excellence Award: once in 2018, and again earlier this year.
Read more about The President's Research Excellence Award recipients.
Dr Theou will be presenting "Frailty: A topic that affects us all" at our first post-pandemic PT Matters Research Presentation on November 30th, 2022. We hope you will join us. Click for details and registration information.
Introduction by Dr Cheryl Kozey, Research Coordinator
Our faculty work tenaciously to advance their research - which makes recognition of their efforts so well-deserved. In this PT Matters issue we are highlighting Dr Scott Kehler's research - which involves frailty management and addresses the complexities of age.
“One in five Canadians has lung disease. COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) is the number one reason for hospitalization in Canada. And at least 13% of our children live with asthma.”* Those figures are disturbing figures, which makes respiratory research so important.
Dr. Kehler’s research involves frailty management to address the complexities of aging. Scott believes that knowing patient frailty levels could have a significant impact in the delivery of prevention and rehabilitation programming, and that understanding frailty could guide healthcare decision-making to tailor or provide more intensive therapy so that those who are in the worst health can benefit.
Research Summary
While people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) are living
longer, it does not mean they are living in better health. Measuring frailty can determine the overall health of a person including those with COPD. Frailty is a state of reduced function and health. People with more health problems are frailer. Studies show that people with COPD are frailer than people without COPD. This is a problem because frailty in COPD is related to worse quality of life, more COPD disease flare-ups, reduced physical fitness and activity, and a greater risk of dying.
Even though frailty is common in COPD, it is not known how frailty changes over time in people with COPD compared to people without COPD. This project will track changes in frailty, called frailty trajectories, using data from a large population-based study, called CanCOLD. CanCOLD that includes adults from across Canada with and without COPD who have been followed for more than a decade. This project will also study whether physical fitness and activity are affected by how quickly frailty develops, because these factors can influence long-term health outcomes.
The project will determine if COPD exacerbations and their burden of COPD symptoms impact their frailty trajectory. The results from this research study are important because they could improve how resources are used for the delivery of healthcare to patients who need it the most, as part of their treatment or prevention of COPD. If this study is successful, then future research could identify if it is important and feasible to measure frailty as a part of COPD prevention and treatment.**
More recently Dr Kehler was awarded a CIHR Team grant led by Danielle Bouchard (Nominated Principal Applicant from NB), with Scott as the Early Career Researcher Principal Applicant and NS Lead. It is a 6-year grant worth $3 M. The grant title is: Understanding how to Attract, Adapt, Implement and Sustain an evidence-informed fall prevention exercise program in Community Settings: The AAIMS project. More to come on this project!
Well done Scott, we all wish you great success with this most important research.
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