Biostatistics
The Biostatistics Unit at Group Health Research Institute (GHRI) is involved in a wide variety of both methodological and collaborative research activities. These activities include:
- Statistical coordination of the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium
- Participating in the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network for colorectal cancer
- Providing statistical leadership for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Vaccine Safety Datalink project
- Providing statistical support for many other studies
The unit's primary goals are to develop, improve, and apply statistical methodology to facilitate high-quality health care research and benefit public health. Institute biostatisticians specialize in areas of methodologic interest that include the following:
- Bayesian methodology (including meta-analytic models, hierarchical/multilevel modeling, and nonparametric methods)
- Diagnostic and screening test accuracy
- Latent class analysis
- Longitudinal data analysis
- Microsimulation modeling
- Methods for estimating and describing inter-rater agreement
- Survival analysis
GHRI biostatistics unit members collaborate with GHRI investigators as well as researchers at the University of Washington (UW), the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), Veterans Affairs (VA), and other HMO Research Network sites to address questions such as:
- What is the impact of screening on trends in colorectal cancer incidence and mortality?
- What factors affect the accuracy of radiologists' assessments of mammograms?
- How can we better design studies to assess influenza vaccine effectiveness in the elderly?
- Does calibration improve the quality of coronary artery calcium measurements from computed tomography (CT) images?
- Can individuals with bipolar disorder accurately recall symptoms of mania and depression?
"Being a statistician at Group Health is especially rewarding," says GHRI associate investigator Carolyn M. Rutter, PhD, "because our findings can be quickly integrated into patient care."
Researchers in biostatistics
GHRI
- Melissa Anderson, MS
- Bill Barlow, PhD
- Andy Bogart, MS
- Andrea Cook, PhD
- Lou Grothaus, MA
- Sebastien Haneuse, PhD
- Rebecca Hubbard, PhD
- Laura Ichikawa, MS
- Eric Johnson, MA
- Diana Miglioretti, PhD
- Jennifer Nelson, PhD
- Carolyn Rutter, PhD
- Rod Walker, MS
- Onchee Yu, MS
Recent publications on biostatistics
2008
Miglioretti DL, Brown ER. A marginalized diffusion model for estimating age at first lower endoscopy use from current-status data. J R Stat Soc Ser C Appl Stat. 2008;57(1):61-74.
Haneuse SJ, Rudser KD, Gillen DL. The separation of timescales in Bayesian survival modeling of the time-varying effect of a time-dependent exposure. Biostatistics. 2008;9(3):400-10. Epub 2007 Nov 19. PubMed
Haneuse S, Wakefield J. Geographic-based ecological correlation studies using supplemental case-control data. Stat Med. 2008;27(6):864-87. Epub 2007 Jul 11. PubMed
2007
Cook AJ, Gold DR, Li Y. Spatial cluster detection for censored outcome data. Biometrics. 2007;63(2):540-9. Epub 2007 Jan 3. PubMed
Haneuse SJ, Wakefield JC. Hierarchical models for combining ecological and case-control data. Biometrics. 2007;63(1):128-36. PubMed
Miglioretti DL, Heagerty PJ Marginal modeling of nonnested multilevel data using standard software. Am J Epidemiol. 2007;165(4):453-63. Epub 2006 Nov 22. PubMed
Rutter CM, Yu O, Miglioretti DL. A hierarchical non-homogeneous Poisson model for meta-analysis of adenoma counts. Stat Med. 2007;26(1):98-109. Epub 2005 Dec 22. PubMed
2005
Nelson JC, Kronmal RA, Carr JJ, McNitt-Gray MF, Wong ND, Loria C, Goldin JG, Williams OD, Detrano R. Measuring coronary calcium on CT images adjusted for attenuation differences. Radiology. 2005; 235(2):403-14. PubMed
2004
Miglioretti DL, Heagerty PJ. Marginal modeling of multilevel binary data with time varying covariates. Biostatistics. 2004;5(3):381-98. PubMed
Our major research interests
- Aging & geriatrics
- Alternative approaches to healing
- Behavior change
- Biostatistics
- Cancer control
- Cardiovascular health
- Child & adolescent health
- Chronic illness management
- Health informatics
- Health services & economics
- Immunization & infectious disease
- Medication use & patient safety
- Mental health
- Obesity
- Preventive medicine
- Women's health