Onchee Yu, MS

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"At KPWHRI, I apply statistical methods to studies ranging from women’s health to pharmacoepidemiology to vaccine safety and effectiveness, in an effort to improve health care for patients.”

Onchee Yu, MS

Principal Collaborative Biostatistician, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute

Onchee.Yu@kp.org
206-287-2389

Biography

Onchee Yu, MS, is a biostatistician who has contributed her extensive experience in statistical applications to electronic health records (EHR) data to studies related to women’s health, pharmacoepidemiology, and vaccine safety and effectiveness. Ms. Yu has been a key member of Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute’s (KPWHRI) immunization research program for 20 years. Her work focuses on applying statistical methods to evaluate vaccine effectiveness, side effects, and safety. In collaboration with KPWHRI biostatisticians Jennifer Nelson, PhD, and Andrea Cook, PhD, Ms. Yu developed and improved statistical methods for monitoring the safety of postmarketing vaccines in the Vaccine Safety Datalink project.

Much of Ms. Yu's recent research is in pharmacoepidemiology, which is studying how drugs are used in a population and their impact on public health. She is an expert in statistical analysis in a complex, clinically important area—determining if taking medicine for one condition (for example, cardiovascular medications) affects risk of other illnesses (for example, cancer outcomes).

Ms. Yu also contributes to women’s health. Using extensive EHR data and in collaboration with University of Washington clinician and KPWHRI affiliate researcher Susan D. Reed, MD, MPH, Ms. Yu has estimated incidences and prevalences, validated diagnosis codes, and developed automated case-finding algorithms for women’s health conditions including uterine fibroids, adenomyosis and endometriosis.  

Ms. Yu obtained her MS in biostatistics from the University of Washington in 1999. She is a member of the American Statistical Association and the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology. Her statistical methodological expertise includes classification and regression tree analysis, and survival analysis.

Research interests and experience

  • Biostatistics

    Survival analysis; classification and regression tree analysis

  • Cancer

    Biostatistics; medication use and cancer outcomes

  • Vaccines & Infectious Diseases

    Biostatistics; vaccine safety and efficacy; postmarketing vaccine safety study design and analysis

    Women's Health

    Biostatistics; incidence and prevalence estimations; validation of diagnosis codes; automated case-finding algorithms

  • Medication Use & Patient Safety

    Biostatistics; medication use and cancer outcomes; postmarketing drug and vaccine safety study design and analysis; safety signal detection methods

Recent publications

Xu S, Sy LS, Hong V, Farrington P, Glenn SC, Ryan DS, Shirley AM, Lewin BJ, Tseng HF, Vazquez-Benitez G, Glanz JM, Fireman B, McClure DL, Hurley LP, Yu O, Wernecke M, Smith N, Weintraub ES, Qian L. Mortality risk after COVID-19 vaccination: A self-controlled case series study. Vaccine. 2024 Feb 21:S0264-410X(24)00191-9. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.02.032. PubMed

Wartko PD, Bobb JF, Boudreau DM, Matthews AG, McCormack J, Lee AK, Qiu H, Yu O, Hyun N, Idu AE, Campbell CI, Saxon AJ, Liu DS, Altschuler A, Samet JH, Labelle CT, Zare-Mehrjerdi M, Stotts AL, Braciszewski JM, Murphy MT, Dryden D, Arnsten JH, Cunningham CO, Horigian VE, Szapocznik J, Glass JE, Caldeiro RM, Phillips RC, Shea M, Bart G, Schwartz RP, McNeely J, Liebschutz JM, Tsui JI, Merrill JO, Lapham GT, Addis M, Bradley KA; PROUD Trial Collaborators; Ghiroli MM, Hamilton LK, Hu Y, LaHue JS, Loree AM, Murphy SM, Northrup TF, Shmueli-Blumberg D, Silva AJ, Weinstein ZM, Wong MT, Burganowski RP. Nurse care management for opioid use disorder treatment: The PROUD cluster randomized clinical trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2023 Oct 30:e235701. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.5701. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Yu O, Christ JP, Schulze-Rath R, Covey J, Kelley A, Grafton J, Cronkite D, Holden E, Hilpert J, Sacher F, Micks E, Reed SD. Incidence, prevalence and trends in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) diagnosis: A United States population-based study from 2006-2019. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2023 Apr 13:S0002-9378(23)00241-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2023.04.010. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Wartko PD, Qiu H, Idu AE, Yu O, McCormack J, Matthews AG, Bobb JF, Saxon AJ, Campbell CI, Liu D, Braciszewski JM, Murphy SM, Burganowski RP, Murphy MT, Horigian VE, Hamilton LK, Lee AK, Boudreau DM, Bradley KA. Baseline representativeness of patients in clinics enrolled in the PRimary care Opioid Use Disorders treatment (PROUD) trial: comparison of trial and non-trial clinics in the same health systems. BMC Health Serv Res. 2022 Dec 29;22(1):1593. doi: 10.1186/s12913-022-08915-1. PubMed

Nelson JC, Ulloa-Perez E, Yu O, Cook AJ, Jackson ML, Belongia EA, Daley MF, Harpaz R, Kharbanda EO, Klein NP, Naleway AL, Tseng HF, Weintraub ES, Duffy J, Yih WK, Jackson LA. Active post-licensure safety surveillance for recombinant zoster vaccine using electronic health record data. Am J Epidemiol. 2022 Oct 4:kwac170. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwac170. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

 

Research

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Increasing opioid use disorder treatment in primary care

A trial led by KPWHRI researchers found that adding nurse care managers helped more people get needed treatment.

Research

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New numbers could help diagnose and treat a common, complex condition

Researchers gain better understanding of polycystic ovary syndrome's impact in U.S.

aging & geriatrics

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Do drugs cause falls for adults with dementia?

Researchers find a relationship between prescribed central nervous system-active medications and increased risk of falling among older people with dementia.