Decreased sleep quality is commonly considered a “normal” course of aging. For many seniors, sleep duration shortens and sleep becomes increasingly fragmented. More than half of adults over 65 have at least one chronic sleep complaint, the most common being an inability to stay asleep at night. Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute scientist Dr. Glenn Landry acknowledges that while age-related changes in sleep quality are common, poor sleep quality should not be accepted as an inevitable part of aging.

High quality health research evidence brings maximum value only when it is put into practice. Knowledge translation interventions involving researchers, clinicians, policy makers, and patients are needed to see positive health outcomes. In order to facilitate knowledge translation around women’s heart health, the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) hosted a public event, Your Heart Your Health, on May 12.

Senior biomedical engineer technologist Daniel Driedger’s original motivation for gathering feedback from six stakeholder groups at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) and advice from more than 20 medical professionals about how to better handle and transport a commonly used cardiac surgery device was simple: cost savings. The device, known as a transesophageal echocardiogram probe (or TEE probe), uses an ultrasound transducer at its tip that, when inserted into the esophagus during an echocardiogram, records images and offers Doppler evaluation during cardiac surgery procedures.

An innovative medical device developed by University of British Columbia (UBC) graduate students in the Engineers in Scrubs (EiS) Program is demonstrating the power of interdisciplinary collaborations. Working out of the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility, a Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute centre, team members Vivian Chung, Andrew Meyer, Gregory Allan, and Shalaleh Rismani, created a small screw cutter that has the potential to significantly improve surgical care in developing countries.

Addiction researchers from Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) are driving the development of the British Columbia Addiction Network – a new national research network intended to bring addiction patient care in line with current evidence-based research around addiction treatment and prevention.

Even though heart disease is perceived as a ‘man’s’ health concern, each year in Canada more women die from heart disease than breast cancer. In 2011, Statistics Canada reported that more than 22,000 women died due to heart disease, compared to 4,958 deaths due to breast cancer. According to research by Dr.

Although the global population is approximately 50% female, much of the research about how stress and depression affect the human brain does not ring true for women. A review article by Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute scientist Dr. Liisa Galea highlights a significant gap in neuroscience research and knowledge: there are sex differences in how stress affects the brain and behaviour throughout a person’s lifespan.