Laura Nicole Anderson

• PhD, MSc
• Professor (Assistant) at McMaster University

Variation in plasma levels of cortisol, an essential hormone in the stress response, is associated in population-based studies with cardio-metabolic, inflammatory and neuro-cognitive traits and diseases. Heritability of plasma cortisol is estimated at 30-60% but no common genetic contribution has been identified. The CORtisol NETwork (CORNET) conso...

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis regulates stress responses and HPA dysfunction has been associated with several chronic diseases. Low birthweight may be associated with HPA dysfunction in later life, yet human studies are inconclusive. The primary study aim was to identify genetic variants associated with HPA axis function. A secondar...

Recent studies suggest that vitamin D may be associated with reduced breast cancer risk, but most studies have evaluated only dietary vitamin D intake. The associations among ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, factors related to cutaneous vitamin D production, and breast cancer risk were evaluated in a population-based case-control study conducte...

Some evidence suggests that vitamin D may reduce breast cancer risk. Despite the biological interaction between vitamin D and calcium, few studies have evaluated their joint effects on breast cancer risk. The objective was to evaluate the associations and potential interaction between vitamin D and calcium (from food and supplements) and breast can...

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma has one of the worst survival rates of all the cancers. Established risk factors for this malignancy are smoking, body mass index (BMI) and family history of pancreatic cancer. Findings are inconsistent regarding pancreatitis, diabetes, allergies, intake of fruit, vegetables, red meat, alcohol, caffeine, vitamin C, calcium...

Background: In 2023, the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) published guidance on reporting race and ethnicity. This new guidance is a welcome development, yet unanswered questions remain regarding the reporting of race and ethnicity in health research. Objective: We sought to describe the methods of reporting race and ethnicity in publish...

Background Early life adversity has long-term effects; however, the influence on changes in body size across the life course is not well understood. Objectives of this study were to define trajectories of body size across the life course and to evaluate the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and perceived life course body size...

IntroductionTraditional obesity measures including body mass index, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, and waist-to-height ratio have limitations. The primary objective of this study was to identify and review the validity of non-traditional obesity measures, using measures of total body fat as the reference standard, that have been used acro...

Background Inadequate and excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) defined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has been associated with preterm birth. However, studies demonstrate inconsistent associations. Objectives We examined the associations between categorical and continuous total GWG and moderate to late preterm birth (32-<37 weeks), and eval...

Objective The primary objective was to evaluate the change in the prevalence of daily or occasional tobacco smoking during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and to assess if socioeconomic factors were associated with changes in smoking. The secondary objective was to evaluate the association of smoking with adherence to public health measures...

Objective Estimate the impact of 20% flat-rate and tiered sugary drink tax structures on the consumption of sugary drinks, sugar-sweetened beverages, and 100% juice by age, sex, and socioeconomic position. Design We modelled the impact of price changes –for each tax structure– on the demand for sugary drinks by applying own- and cross-price elasti...

We hypothesize that children characterized by deprived factors have poorer health outcomes. We aim to identify clustering of determinants and estimate risk of early childhood diseases. This 1993–2019 longitudinal cohort study combines three Canadian pediatric cohorts and their families. Mothers and children are clustered using latent class analysis...

Background Parents or children’s primary caregivers are a key influence on child weight as both decision makers and role models for eating patterns, physical activity, and other social behaviors. It is unknown whether caregivers’ time preferences are associated with overweight or obesity in children. The primary objective was to estimate the associ...

The objective of this study was to investigate the association between children’s parent-reported physical activity levels and weight changes during the COVID-19 pandemic among children and youth in Ontario Canada. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in parents of children 5–17 years living in Ontario from May to July 2021. Parents recall...

Birthweight has been associated with diabetes in a reverse J-shape (highest risk at low birthweight and moderately high risk at high birthweight) and inversely associated with hypertension in adulthood with inconsistent evidence for cardiovascular disease. There is a lack of population-based studies examining the incidence of cardiometabolic outcom...

Background This study presents the prevalence of burnout among the Canadian public health workforce after three years of the COVID-19 pandemic and its association with work-related factors. Methods Data were collected using an online survey distributed through Canadian public health associations and professional networks between November 2022 and...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the healthcare and public health sectors. The impact of working on the frontlines as a healthcare or public health professional has been well documented. Healthcare organizations must support the psychological and mental health of those responding to future public health emergencies. Objective This sy...

Background The timing of introduction to solid food has been associated with eczema and wheezing in childhood. Our aim was to determine whether differences persist within the recommended 4 to 6 month age range. Methods A longitudinal cohort study with repeated measures was conducted among children from birth to 10 years of age who were participati...

To examine factors associated with COVID-19 vaccination (time to vaccination and vaccination status) among healthy young children participating in primary healthcare. A cohort study was conducted between November 2021 and September 2022 through the TARGet Kids! primary care research network in Toronto, Canada. Sociodemographic information, child an...

Background Preterm birth is an important outcome or exposure in epidemiologic research. When administrative data on measured gestational age is not available, parent-reported gestational age can be obtained from questionnaires, which is subject to potential bias. To our knowledge, few studies have assessed the validity of parent-reported gestationa...

Background: Evidence suggests that accelerated postnatal growth in children is detrimental for adult cardiovascular health. It is unclear whether children born late preterm (34-36 weeks) compared to full term (≥ 39 weeks), have different growth trajectories. Our objective was to evaluate the association between gestational age groups and growth tr...

Background Obesity is a chronic disease and is an established risk factor for other chronic diseases and mortality. Young adulthood is a period when people may be highly amenable to healthy behavior change, develop lifelong healthy behaviors, and when primary prevention of obesity may be feasible. Interventions in early adulthood have the potential...

Measures that can provide reasonably accurate estimates of sugar-containing beverage (SCB) intake among children are needed. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the relative validity of a short beverage screener (Nutrition and Health Questionnaire, NHQ) compared to a 24-hour recall (Automated Self-Administered 24-h (ASA24) Dietary A...

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a risk factor for obesity; however, the causal mechanisms are not well understood. Objectives were to measure the impact of ACEs on adulthood obesity and to investigate whether the association was mediated by nutrition and stress. Methods: A longitudinal study was conducted using adults aged 4...

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health mitigation strategies dramatically changed patterns of daily life activities worldwide. Public health restrictions during the pandemic had unintentional consequences on chronic disease risk factors. Cancer is a leading chronic disease worldwide with several known modifiable risk factors,...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated public health mitigation strategies have dramatically changed patterns of daily life activities worldwide, resulting in unintentional consequences on behavioral risk factors, including smoking, alcohol consumption, poor nutrition, and physical inactivity. The infodemic of social media data may pro...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic affected access to health care services in Canada; however, limited research examines the influence of the social determinants of health on unmet health care needs during the first year of the pandemic. The objectives of this study were to describe unmet health care needs during the first year of the pandemic and...

Background: Rapid growth and excess weight in early childhood are associated with obesity risk. While maternal preconception BMI has been identified as a potential risk factor, the role of paternal preconception BMI is less clear. Objectives: To examine the association between paternal preconception BMI and age- and sex-standardized WHO BMI z-sc...

Many obesity risk factors have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, including physical inactivity, poor diet, stress, and poverty. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as associated lockdowns or restrictions, on weight change in children and adults. We searched five databases from January...

Background People with obesity are at increased risk of chronic stress, and this may have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are also associated with both obesity and stress, and may modify risk of stress among people with obesity. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the associations between...

Background Elevated body mass index (BMI) and rapid growth in early childhood are important predictors of obesity risk. The association between maternal preconception BMI and child growth rates is unclear. Objectives To assess the association between measured maternal preconception BMI and child age‐ and sex‐ standardized WHO BMI z‐score (zBMI) gr...

Background frailty imparts a higher risk for hospitalisation, mortality and morbidity due to COVID-19 infection, but the broader impacts of the pandemic and associated public health measures on community-living people with frailty are less known. Methods we used cross-sectional data from 23,974 Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging participants who...

Objectives To examine differences in mental health-related service contacts between immigrant, refugee, racial and ethnic minoritized children and youth, and the extent to which social, and economic characteristics account for group differences. Methods The sample for analyses includes 10,441 children and youth aged 4–17 years participating in the...

Objectives To describe child and parent weight change during the pandemic, overall and by income precarity. Design A cross-sectional online survey was conducted. Setting Caregivers of children 0–17 years of age living in Ontario, Canada, during the COVID-19 pandemic from May 2021 to July 2021. Participants A convenience sample of parents (n=9099...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted access to healthcare services in Canada. Research prior to the pandemic has found that depression and anxiety symptoms were associated with increased unmet healthcare needs. The primary objective of this study was to examine if mental health was associated with perceived access to healthcare during the p...

Objective Social determinants of health (SDH) have been shown to correlate with adverse cancer outcomes. It is unclear if their impact goes beyond behavioral risk or healthcare access. We aimed to evaluate the association of SDH with endometrial cancer outcomes in a public healthcare system. Methods A retrospective cohort study of endometrial canc...

Background: Adolescents with obesity have lower academic performance, but little is known about the association between body weight in early childhood and school readiness. The objective was to examine the association between age- and sex-standardized body mass index (zBMI) and body weight status and school readiness in young children. Methods: A p...

Background: The indirect consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in older adults, such as stress, are unknown. We sought to describe the stressors and perceived consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on older adults in Canada and to evaluate differences by socioeconomic factors. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study using data from the Cana...

Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, the public health workforce has experienced re-deployment from core functions such as health promotion, disease prevention, and health protection, to preventing and tracking the spread of COVID-19. With continued pandemic deployment coupled with the exacerbation of existing health disparities due to the pand...

People exposed to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) suffer from an increased risk of chronic disease and shorter lifespan. These individuals also tend to exhibit accelerated reproductive development and show signs of advanced cellular aging as early as childhood. These observations suggest that ACEs may accelerate biological processes of aging t...

Importance: The long-term cardiometabolic consequences of late preterm birth (34-36 weeks' gestation) are not well understood. Objective: To assess whether late preterm birth and size for gestational age are associated with cardiometabolic risk (CMR) in childhood. Design, setting, and participants: This retrospective cohort study included 1742...

Background: Canadians have been gravely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and adults living with children may have been disproportionately impacted. The objective of this study was to describe changes in chronic disease risk factors and current exercise habits among adults living with and without a child younger than 18 years old. Data and metho...

Training in research methods is important for improvement of healthcare delivery and population outcomes. Graduate programs of public health play a critical role in offering such education to current and future healthcare professionals as well as entry level learners with no experience in the field. A key skill across all fields of research methods...

Objective The aim of this study was to describe sugary drink (beverages with free sugars), sugar-sweetened beverage (beverages with added sugars, SSB) and 100% juice (beverages with natural sugars) consumption across socioeconomic position (SEP) among Canadians. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 19,742 respondents of single-day 24...

Machine learning may improve use of observational data to understand the nutritional epidemiology of cardiovascular disease (CVD) through better modelling of non-linearity, non-additivity, and dietary complexity. Our objective was to develop machine learning prediction models for exploring how nutrients are related to CVD risk and to evaluate their...

Objectives Children from low-income households are at an increased risk of social, behavioural and physical health problems. Prior studies have generally relied on dichotomous outcome measures. However, inequities may exist along the range of outcome distribution. Our objective was to examine differences in distribution of three child health outcom...

Introduction: Frailty in older adults, characterized by a decline in multiple physiological systems and increasing vulnerability to loss of independence, disability, and death, is a public health priority in developed countries. Etiology of frailty extends across the lifespan and may begin in early life, but empirical evidence for this association...

Measures of obesity, including body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC), do not fully capture the complexity of obesity-related health risks. This study identified distinct classes of obesity-related characteristics and evaluated their associations with BMI, WC, and percent body fat (%BF) using cross-sectional data from 30,096 participant...

Background The effect of being born late preterm (34–36 weeks gestation) on cardiometabolic outcomes across the life course is unclear. Objectives To systematically review the association between being born late preterm (spontaneous or indicated), compared to the term and cardiometabolic outcomes in children and adults. Data sources EMBASE(Ovid),...

Rationale: To inform future policies, the study objectives were to determine to what extent the policies included in the 5-year Plan of Action for the Prevention of Obesity in Children and Adolescents-proposed by Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and signed by 19 Latin America countries in 2014-have been implemented and evaluated. Methods:...

Background Childhood obesity is a major public health concern. This study evaluated the independent and joint associations of family-level income, neighbourhood-level income and neighbourhood deprivation, in relation to child obesity. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in children ≤12 years of age from TARGet Kids! primary care network...

Objective Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is a preventable condition and the main cause of maternal death worldwide. Evidence on the effectiveness of misoprostol in the prevention of PPH has been generated from both randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and nonrandomized studies (NRS). This study aimed to compare the results of RCTs and NRS, and to compa...

Introduction Cardiometabolic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes, are leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Modern advances in population-level disease surveillance are necessary and may inform novel opportunities for precision public health approaches to disease prevention. Electronic data sources, such as...

Objective The primary objective was to determine the association between public health preventive measures and children’s outdoor time, sleep duration, and screen time during COVID-19. Methods A cohort study using repeated measures of exposures and outcomes was conducted in healthy children (0 to 10 years) through The Applied Research Group for Ki...

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has highlighted the need for well-trained public health workers to interpret evidence, make informed decisions, and disseminate information to the general public. As public health courses in Ontario universities have moved online due to this pandemic, instructors were required to simulate their teaching online wh...

Background Robust measurement of dietary intake in population studies of children is critical to better understand the diet–health nexus. It is unknown whether parent proxy-report of children’s dietary intake through online 24-h recalls is feasible in large cohort studies. Objectives The primary objective of this study was to describe the feasibil...

Objectives To investigate whether social determinants of health (SDOH) are predictive of adherence to public health preventive measures and to describe changes in adherence over time among parents and children.MethodsA longitudinal study was conducted in children aged 0–10 years and their parents through the TARGet Kids! COVID-19 Study in the Great...

Introduction: The authors aimed to examine the association between meeting the integrative movement behavior guidelines (physical activity, screen viewing, and sleep) and cardiometabolic risk (CMR) factors in young children. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, physical activity, screen viewing, and sleep were assessed using parent-reported d...

Background Disasters are events that disrupt the daily functioning of a community or society, and may increase long-term risk of adverse cardiometabolic outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review to determine the impact of disasters, including pandemics, on cardio...

Background: Robust measurement of dietary intake in population studies of children is critical to better understand the diet-health nexus. It is unknown whether parent proxy-report of children’s dietary intake through online 24-hour recalls is feasible in large cohort studies. Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to describe the feas...

Obesity is associated with increased health care use (HCU), but it is unclear whether this is consistent across all measures of adiposity. The objectives were to compare obesity defined by body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and percent body fat (%BF), and to estimate their associations with HCU. Baseline data...

Background: High sodium intake is a leading modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. This study estimated full compliance to Canada's voluntary sodium reduction guidance (SRG) targets on social inequities and population sodium intake. Methods: We conducted a modeling study using n = 19,645, 24 h dietary recalls (Canadians ≥ 2 years) from...

The field of nutritional epidemiology faces challenges posed by measurement error, diet as a complex exposure, and residual confounding. The objective of this perspective article is to highlight how developments in big data and machine learning can help address these challenges. New methods of collecting 24-h dietary recalls and recording diet coul...

Objective: Social determinants of health (SDH) have been shown to correlate with adverse cancer outcomes. It is unclear if their impact goes beyond behavioral risk or healthcare access. We aimed to evaluate the association of SDH with endometrial cancer outcomes in a public healthcare system. Design and Setting: A retrospective cohort study of endo...

Objectives Disasters, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, disrupt daily life, increase uncertainty and stress, and may increase long-term risk of adverse cardiometabolic outcomes, including heart disease, obesity and diabetes. The objective was to conduct a systematic review to determine the impact of disasters, including pandemics, on cardiomet...

Background: Few studies have published mediation analyses to quantify the role concurrent BMI plays in the relationship between growth and cardiometabolic risk (CMR) outcomes. Methods: We used data from a longitudinal cohort study conducted in children aged 0-60 months through The Applied Research Group for Kids (TARGet Kids!) in Canada. Four age...

Background Dextro-transposition of the great arteries ( d -TGA) is the most frequent cyanotic congenital heart pathology in neonates. Surgical correction of this condition is possible using the arterial switch operation (ASO) which was first performed by Jatene in 1975. Objectives The aim of this study was to summarise the evidence on short- (less...

Background Group‐based trajectory modeling has been applied to identify distinct trajectories of growth across the life course. Objectives of this study were to describe the methodological approaches for group‐based modeling of growth across the life course and to summarize outcomes across studies. Methods A scoping review with a systematic search...

Objective: Timely surgery has been shown to impact outcome in endometrial cancer patients. Social determinants of health (SDH) are associated with adverse cancer outcomes. We sought to evaluate the association of SDH with surgical treatment indicators in endometrial cancer patients in a public healthcare system. Methods: Endometrial cancer patie...

Background The Master of Public Health (MPH) is a common graduate-level professional degree that is offered by Canadian Universities. To date, few studies have examined competency-based MPH education in Canada. Objective To examine the degree to which MPH programs' course descriptions align with the Public Health Agency of Canada's (PHAC) core com...

Childhood obesity is a major public health challenge and its prevalence continues to increase in many, but not all, countries worldwide. International data indicate that the prevalence of obesity is greater among boys than girls 5–19 years of age in the majority of high and upper middle-income countries worldwide. Despite this observed sex differen...

Background Income related inequities in child health are well-established, with children from lower income households showing increased risk of obesity, behavior problems, and delayed development. To facilitate clinical diagnosis, outcomes are conventionally measured in dichotomous terms. However, inequities may exist along the entire range of dist...

Screen use has become a pervasive behaviour among children and has been linked to adverse health outcomes. The objective of this study was to examine the association between screen time and a comprehensive total cardiometabolic risk (CMR) score in school-aged children (7-12-years), as well as the individual CMR factors. In this longitudinal study,...

Background: This study aimed to examine the association between physical activity (PA) and a total cardio metabolic risk (CMR) score in children aged 3-12 years. Secondary objectives were to examine the association between PA and individual CMR factors. Methods: A longitudinal study with repeated measures was conducted with participants from a l...

Objectives Interventions for child obesity prevention are needed and it is unclear whether evidence from nonrandomized intervention studies is adequate. The objective of this research was to review the methods for the design, analysis and reporting of nonrandomized intervention studies for child obesity prevention and to assess potential for bias.M...

Objective: To examine the degree to which Master of Public Health (MPH) programs' course descriptions align with the Public Health Agency of Canada's (PHAC's) core competency categories in order to identify strengths and training gaps in such programs across Canada. Methods: A content analysis of MPH programs in Canada was conducted from July 20...

Objective: Identifying how obesity-related characteristics cluster in populations is important to understand disease risk. Objectives of this study were to identify classes of children based on obesity-related variables and to evaluate the associations between the identified classes and overweight and obesity. Methods: A cross-sectional study wa...

In older age, body composition changes as fat mass increases and redistributes. Therefore, the current body mass index (BMI) classification may not accurately reflect risk in older adults (65+). This study aimed to review the evidence on the association between BMI and all‐cause mortality in older adults and specifically, the findings regarding ove...

Objective Delay in diagnosis of endometrial cancer may be associated with disease progression and impact management and outcomes. Social and cultural barriers influence recognition of symptoms and self-advocacy in seeking care. Associations between social determinants of health (SDH) and disease presentation have been shown in some settings. Our ob...

Background: Currently, sodium consumption of Canadians (2760 mg/day) exceeds the 2300 mg/day tolerable upper level putting Canadians at risk for hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Voluntary sodium reformulation strategies have been implemented in Canada, the United Kingdom (UK), United States (US) to reduce sodium intake from processed foods....

Background: There is inconsistent evidence on the association between physical activity and pancreatic cancer risk and few studies have investigated early life or life-course physical activity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between trajectories of physical activity across the life-course and pancreatic cancer risk. M...

Junior faculty in many universities must go through the promotion process to advance from entry level, e.g., assistant professorship to associate Professor, and ultimately to professorship. The process may often be stressful for some junior faculty, mostly due to some uncertainty about how to optimise their chances of successful promotion. In this...

In infants 1-3 years of age, we found higher serum ferritin values associated with higher cognitive function, as measured by the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (P = .02 for the nonlinear relationship). A serum ferritin of 17 μg/L corresponded to the maximum level of cognition, beyond which there was no meaningful improvement. Trial registration C...

Sugar-containing beverages (SCBs) are a major source of sugar intake in children. Early life intake of SCBs may be a strong predictor of SCB intake later in life. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate if SCB intake (defined as 100% fruit juice, soda, and sweetened drinks) in early childhood (≤2.5 years of age) was associated with SCB...