The Women’s Health Research Institute (WHRI) is very pleased to congratulate the recipients of the 2022 Women’s Health Research Institute Catalyst Grants. This competition was funded thanks to the dedicated support of the BC Women’s Health Foundation.
This grant competition provides support for pilot studies in women’s and newborn’s health, which aim to generate preliminary data; test new approaches, methodologies or tools; bring new teams together; and/or support new research in women’s and newborn’s health from established researchers.
This competition has two applicant streams which are evaluated separately from one another: the Academic Researcher stream and the Clinician-Investigator stream.
Academic Researcher Stream Recipients
PROJECT TITLE:
Harnessing placental pathology findings for “big data” perinatal population health research: A validation study
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Jennifer Hutcheon, Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of British Columbia
CO-INVESTIGATORS:
Jessica Liauw, Jefferson Terry and Larisse Melo
SUMMARY:
The placenta plays a central role in healthy pregnancy. For the pregnant individual, an unhealthy or injured placenta can cause potentially life-threatening complications such as pre-eclampsia or serious blood loss; for the fetus, it can cause growth restriction or stillbirth. Yet despite the importance of this organ in pregnancy, information from laboratory examination of the placenta after delivery (which can tell us about problems with placental development) is rarely used by population health researchers trying to understand the causes and consequences of placentally-mediated pregnancy complications. We believe that this is because of logistical issues: findings from placental examinations are recorded in free-text, narrative reports, making them impractical for statistical analysis or linkage with the large population databases that are used in perinatal population health research.
This project will test a new approach to see if text recognition software can be used to convert the information contained in laboratory placental examinations into discrete variables more amenable to “big data” population health research. We will validate a text recognition program previously developed in Pittsburgh, USA, in our British Columbia setting – a step that is crucial before reliably using this approach for epidemiologic studies. We will check the program’s accuracy by comparing its results against a review of the original medical record. Converting information on placental health into a format that is more useable for “big data” research will help us better harness this organ’s critical information in our efforts to understand and prevent serious pregnancy complications for the pregnant individual and newborn.
PROJECT TITLE:
Establishing the Underlying Network of Affective and Unwanted Genital Symptoms in Women and Individuals with Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder/Genito-Pelvic Dysaesthesia
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Samantha Dawson, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia
CO-INVESTIGATORS:
Katrina Bouchard and Marta Kolbuszewska
SUMMARY:
Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder/Genito-Pelvic Dysaesthesia (PGAD/GPD) is a chronic health condition characterized by unwanted, unprovoked genital sensations, without associated sexual interest or desire. PGAD/GPD is not well understood, but the condition affects up to 3% of women and individuals with vulvas. PGAD/GPD is highly comorbid with mental and physical health difficulties and negatively affects people’s ability to engage in basic daily activities. Unfortunately, we do not know what factors worsen PGAD/GPD symptoms over time, and no psychological treatments have been developed. Data from case studies and cross-sectional surveys reveal that PGAD/GPD symptoms are linked with negative emotions and difficulties regulating these emotions. The main purpose of our study is to examine how negative emotions, emotion regulation strategies, and PGAD/GPD symptoms relate to one another using a method called network analysis. The longitudinal design will address a critical knowledge gap by allowing us to examine how these associations evolve over time. This research will identify core mechanisms that maintain PGAD/GPD symptoms, which will inform the development of psychological interventions for this debilitating and distressing condition.
PROJECT TITLE:
Rooting Children’s Mental Health in Place-based Contexts: Stories of Community Resilience and Opportunities for Further Supporting Young Women and Girls in Rural Settings
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Maya Gislason, Associate Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
CO-INVESTIGATORS:
None
SUMMARY:
Climate change has been identified as a growing priority for health professionals. Youth today not only live in a world contoured by intensifying climate impacts but will also be exposed to a range of associated health risks across their life course. Furthermore, climate change amplifies social inequities and pre-existing health risks, and has been documented as being increasingly distressing to children, with disproportionate impacts to young women and girls. This ground-breaking research, rooted in the principles of Planetary Health Equity, will produce the robust evidence needed to both advance, and further fund, a new generation of innovations in young women and girls’ community-based mental health support servicing.
The first aim of this research is to analyze existing literature and statistical data on how climate change and mental health concerns intersect for young women and girls in rural and remote communities in British Columbia (BC). The second aim is to identify opportunities for taking an integrated approach to planetary and human health by linking climate change adaptation and mitigation initiatives with broader equity informed and place-based mental healthcare support servicing in these regions through interviews with health providers and allied youth-oriented medical personnel in rural and remote communities. The third aim is to leverage this foundational research to apply for funding to conduct a next phase of engaged, youth driven research with young women and girls in BC. A Living Repository showcasing effective integrated community health and sustainability initiatives will be shared widely.
Clinician-Investigator Stream Recipients
PROJECT TITLE:
The Role of DNA Methylation in CIUE Inflammatory Signaling
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Jefferson Terry, Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia; Pediatric and Perinatal Pathologist, Children’s & Women’s Health Centre of BC
CO-INVESTIGATORS:
Wendy Robinson
SUMMARY:
Chronic Intervillositis of Unknown Etiology (CIUE) is an unusual type of placental disease that affects about 1 in 600 pregnancies in British Columbia. In CIUE maternal inflammatory cells abnormally collect in the placenta where they cause damage that leads to early pregnancy loss or stunted growth in the few babies that survive. To make matters worse, CIUE usually recurs in future pregnancies and can deny people the ability to successfully bear children. Medications have been tried to prevent CIUE in future pregnancies but right now there is no good treatment to stop it from happening again. To improve CIUE treatment we need to know why CIUE happens. We have found out that a certain type of inflammation is overactive in CIUE but we do not know why this occurs. If we can discover the cause of this certain type of overactive inflammation, we might be able to reliably prevent it from happening again in subsequent pregnancies.
PROJECT TITLE:
Sexual health among women with vulvar lichen sclerosus and their partners: A daily experience and longitudinal study
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Katrina Bouchard, Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of British Columbia; Registered Psychologist, BC Centre for Vulvar Health
CO-INVESTIGATORS:
Meghan Rossi, Samantha Dawson, Melanie Altas and Ulrike Dehaeck
SUMMARY:
Vulvar lichen sclerosus (VLS) is a chronic skin condition that affects the external genitals or vulva (e.g., labia and clitoris). Symptoms of VLS include genital pain, burning, itch, and irritation, which can cause significant distress and prompt women to seek treatment at the BC Centre for Vulvar Health (BCCVH). Over time, VLS can cause irreversible changes to the appearance of the vulva. Even with regular treatment, women with VLS frequently experience difficulties in their sex lives, like low sexual desire and pain during sex. Despite these sexual problems, many women with VLS remain sexually active with a partner; however, engaging in sex may be motivated by wanting to avoid negative outcomes (e.g., prevent partner from losing interest in the relationship; avoidance sexual motives).
The goals of our study are to assess the sexual motives of women with VLS and examine how different types of sexual motives (e.g., pursuing connection, avoiding conflict) relate to the sexual health outcomes of women with VLS and their partners. We will recruit 101 women with VLS and their partners from the BCCVH Vulvar Disease Clinic. Couple members will independently complete online questionnaires about their sexual motives and sexual health at baseline, for 28 days, and 3 months later. We will test if avoidance sexual motives are associated with poorer sexual outcomes in couples’ daily lives and over time. The study results will inform educational materials and psychological treatments at the BCCVH to promote sexual health among women with VLS and their partners.
PROJECT TITLE:
Investigating risk factors and outcomes in young women with nonobstructive coronary artery disease in a women’s heart clinic
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Tara Sedlak, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia; Cardiologist and Medical Director of the Leslie Diamond Women’s Heart Health Clinic, Vancouver General Hospital
CO-INVESTIGATORS:
Natasha Prodan-Bhalla and Emilie Théberge
SUMMARY:
Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is a leading cause of preventable death in women in Canada, and incidence rates are not decreasing in younger women. In recent decades, researchers have reported sex differences in the risk factor constellations and pathologies of IHD presentations, diagnosis, and medical management. Examples of under-diagnosed presentations of IHD include myocardial infarction with no obstructive coronary artery disease (MINOCA) and ischemia with no obstructive coronary artery disease (INOCA), which are significantly more common in women than men.
The Leslie Diamond Women’s Heart Health Clinic (WHC) in Vancouver is one of the few WHCs in Canada and specializes in diagnosing and treating women with (M)INOCA. This study aims to investigate over 230 women followed for at least 3 years in the Vancouver WHC. Our aims are twofold: First, we wish to investigate whether younger patients presenting with (M)INOCA have different risk factor profiles compared to older patients. A key advantage of this all-women study is that it covers a depth of emerging female-specific and non-traditional risk factors that are rarely studied (i.e., due to absence or rarity in men) despite evidence of increased IHD risk. Second, we will investigate whether attendance at a women’s heart clinic improves cardiac symptom frequency and severity, improves perceived quality of life, and lowers depression and anxiety scores over a 3-year period compared to baseline. The results from this proposed study will improve our understanding of women’s heart health pathologies in IHD and help guide improvements in medical management of these entities.