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.
Survival analysis; classification and regression tree analysis
Biostatistics; medication use and cancer outcomes
Biostatistics; vaccine safety and efficacy; postmarketing vaccine safety study design and analysis
Biostatistics; incidence and prevalence estimations; validation of diagnosis codes; automated case-finding algorithms
Biostatistics; medication use and cancer outcomes; postmarketing drug and vaccine safety study design and analysis; safety signal detection methods
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
Sarma EA, Thompson MJ, Bowles EJA, Burnett-Hartman AN, Hubbard RA, Yu O, Chubak J. Patient and tumour characteristics of screening-age adults diagnosed with screen-detected versus symptomatic colon cancer. Colorectal Dis. 2022 Jun 23. doi: 10.1111/codi.16232. PubMed
Pocobelli G, Ichikawa L, Yu O, Green BB, Meyers K, Gray R, Shea M, Chubak J. Validation of international classification of diseases, tenth revision, clinical modification diagnosis codes for heart failure subtypes. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2022 Jun 7. doi: 10.1002/pds.5489. Online ahead of print. PubMed
Sarma EA, Thompson MJ, Bowles EA, Burnett-Hartman AN, Hubbard RA, Yu O, Chubak J. Patient and tumor characteristics of screening-age adults diagnosed with screen-detected versus symptomatic colon cancer. Colorectal Dis. 2022 Jun 23. doi: 10.1111/codi.16232. Online ahead of print. PubMed
A trial led by KPWHRI researchers found that adding nurse care managers helped more people get needed treatment.
Researchers gain better understanding of polycystic ovary syndrome's impact in U.S.
Researchers find a relationship between prescribed central nervous system-active medications and increased risk of falling among older people with dementia.