Biostatistician Melissa Anderson, MS, has collaborated on a wide range of health care topics throughout her career, with an emphasis on preventive care. Her recent research has focused on cancer screening and cardiovascular health. Ms. Anderson worked with Beverly Green, MD, MPH, to determine whether a centralized system of stepped increases in support improves uptake and long-term adherence to colorectal cancer screening. Ms. Anderson and Dr. Green have also collaborated to answer important questions regarding cardiovascular health, including whether a patient’s cardiovascular risks can be defined using automated electronic health record data and if this method can identify high-risk patients. Other areas of interest are blood pressure measurement variability, and diagnostic accuracy of various blood pressure measurement protocols.
Ms. Anderson has experience with longitudinal observational studies and has considerable expertise in the design and analysis of randomized clinical trials. She was the lead analyst for recent randomized trials of behavioral interventions to (1) promote smoking cessation and oral health behaviors among smoking quitline callers, (2) decrease sedentary time among older adults with obesity, and (3) improve pain and function outcomes through group-based cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction among patients with chronic back pain.
Ms. Anderson received her master’s degree in biostatistics at the University of Washington in 1996. Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in 2003, she worked at the Statistical Coordinating Center for the Cardiovascular Health Study, and the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.
Randomized trials, diagnostic test accuracy, longitudinal data analysis, missing data methods
Physical activity, oral health care, smoking cessation
Breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening
Cardiovascular risk assessment, blood pressure measurement
Adherence to preventive care recommendations
McClure JB, Anderson ML. Evaluation of a population-level strategy to promote tobacco treatment use among insured smokers: a pragmatic, randomized trial. BMC Public Health. 2018;18(1):228. doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-5119-0. PubMed
Gray SL, Walker RL, Dublin S, Yu O, Bowles EJA, Anderson ML, Crane PK, Larson EB. Proton pump inhibitor use and dementia risk: prospective population-based study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2017 Nov 14. doi: 10.1111/jgs.15073. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
LaCroix AZ, Hubbard RA, Gray SL, Anderson ML, Crane PK, Sonnen JA, Zaslavsky O, Larson EB. Trajectories of physical function prior to death and brain neuropathology in a community-based cohort: the ACT study. BMC Geriatr. 2017 Nov 2;17(1):258. doi: 10.1186/s12877-017-0637-7. PubMed
Green BB, Anderson ML, Cook AJ, Chubak J, Fuller S, Meenan RT, Vernon SW. A centralized mailed program with stepped increases of support increases time in compliance with colorectal cancer screening guidelines over 5 years: a randomized trial. Cancer. 2017 Nov 15;123(22):4472-4480. doi: 10.1002/cncr.30908. Epub 2017 Jul 28. PubMed
McClure JB, Blasi PR, Cook A, Bush T, Fishman P, Nelson J, Anderson ML, Catz SL. Corrigendum to "oral health 4 life: design and methods of a semi-pragmatic randomized trial to promote oral health care and smoking abstinence among tobacco quitline callers". Contemp Clin Trials. 57 (2017) 90-97. 2017 Jul 24. pii: S1551-7144(17)30469-X. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2017.07.011. [Epub ahead of print]. No abstract available. PubMed
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