Resident Awarded for Maternal Mental Health Research Project
According to Statistics Canada, an estimated one-quarter (23%) of Canadian mothers who recently gave birth reported feelings associated with either post-partum depression or an anxiety disorder. This number can be higher for individuals who deliver twin pregnancies. A new research study from fourth-year resident Dr. Stephanie Lapinsky aims to study this population to find new ways of supporting patients and their families. Dr. Lapinsky was recently recognized for her study "Twin pregnancy and maternal mental health: A Canadian retrospective cohort study” by Women's College Hospital with the Carol Mitchell and Richard Venn Student Fellowship in Women’s Mental Health.
Dr. Lapinsky is a resident who is currently taking part in the Clinician Investigator Program and completing a master’s degree in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research through the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation (IHPME). The award of $10,000 was granted to support the research being conducted for Dr. Lapinsky's master’s thesis.
"Winning this award helps provide financial support towards completing my master’s degree and also recognizes the significance of this project in contributing to women’s health," said Dr. Lapinsky. "It further recognizes the interdisciplinary nature of this project, which is a collaboration between obstetrics and psychiatry. I feel honoured to have been selected by Women’s College Hospital and the Carol Mitchell and Richard Venn Fellowship to receive this award."
The project is being completed under the supervision of Dr. Simone Vigod (Associate Professor, IHPME), with additional support from Dr. Lapinsky's thesis committee consisting of Dr. Kellie Murphy (Professor, ObGyn and IHPME), Dr. Joel Ray (Professor, Medicine, IHPME and ObGyn), and Dr. Hilary Brown (Assistant Professor, Health & Society and Psychiatry). The project consists of a population-based retrospective cohort study using the Ontario health administrative databases at ICES to assess the risk of postpartum mental illness following a twin pregnancy. Amongst a cohort of Ontario women who delivered a singleton or twin pregnancy livebirth in Ontario between 2003 and 2019, the researchers will compare the risk of a severe psychiatric outcome - any emergency department visit or hospitalization for mental illness or death by suicide - amongst those who delivered a singleton versus twin pregnancy. They will assess this risk in both short-term and long-term follow-up and after adjusting for potential confounders.
Dr. Lapinsky believes that this research could help many new parents in the future. "This research is important because twin pregnancies are on the rise and pose a risk for maternal mental illness, which has negative effects on mothers, infants, and children. Effective preventative and therapeutic interventions do exist and targeted interventions in at-risk populations could therefore have considerable benefits. Our knowledge, however, is limited by gaps in the literature."
"This study will be one of the first population-based assessment of the relationship between multifetal births and maternal mental illness, and will provide data on outcomes which have not previously been studied. These results have the potential to inform reproductive care for women including infertility, pre-conception, and antepartum counselling, and post-partum care. This will allow women to make better informed decisions regarding their reproductive health."
Congratulations to Dr. Lapinsky and her collaborators! We look forward to the results of this important study!
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