Scholars@Duke
Alyssa Platt

Alyssa Platt

Biostatistician III
Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
alyssa.platt@duke.edu
Duke Box 90519, Durham, NC 27708
310 Trent Drive, 234 Trent Hall, Durham, NC 27710

Selected Publications

School-based enhanced hearing screening and specialty telehealth follow-up for hearing loss among children in rural Alaska: study protocol for a hybrid effectiveness-implementation stepped wedge, cluster-randomized controlled trial (North STAR trial).

Journal Article Trials · May 27, 2025 BACKGROUND: Childhood hearing loss has well-known profound implications for language development, school achievement, and future employment opportunities. School-based health programs can provide hearing screening, but access to specialists for follow-up c ... Full text Link to item Cite

Access to Ear and Hearing Care Globally: A Survey of Stakeholder Perceptions from the Lancet Commission on Global Hearing Loss.

Journal Article Otology & neurotology : official publication of the American Otological Society, American Neurotology Society [and] European Academy of Otology and Neurotology · March 2025 ObjectiveCharacterize global access to ear and hearing care (EHC) to inform future policy recommendations.Study designSurvey using convenience sampling.SettingSubjects were surveyed via contact lists of the World Health Organizat ... Full text Cite

Is there a mental health diagnostic crisis in primary care? Current research practices in global mental health cannot answer that question.

Journal Article Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci · January 30, 2025 In low- and middle-income countries, fewer than 1 in 10 people with mental health conditions are estimated to be accurately diagnosed in primary care. This is despite more than 90 countries providing mental health training for primary healthcare workers in ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Selah trial: A preference-based partially randomized waitlist control study of three stress management interventions.

Conference Translational behavioral medicine · January 2025 Chronic stress undermines psychological and physiological health. We tested three remotely delivered stress management interventions among clergy, accounting for intervention preferences. United Methodist clergy in North Carolina enrolled in a partially ra ... Full text Cite

Expanding the Non-Clinical Mental Health Workforce: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Psychological Intervention Delivered by Community-Based Organizations in New York City (RECOUP-NY)

Journal Article Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice · January 1, 2025 Objective: In 2022, half a million residents of New York City reported being unable to access mental health services. One solution to combat this service gap is community-initiated care (CIC), in which staff, who are not mental health specialists, at commu ... Full text Cite

Breast and Prostate Cancer Screening by Life Expectancy in Patients with Kidney Failure on Dialysis.

Journal Article Clin J Am Soc Nephrol · December 1, 2024 KEY POINTS: Breast and prostate cancer screening were more frequent among patients on hemodialysis waitlisted for kidney transplant. Among patients not waitlisted for transplant, we found that screening rates were generally higher among patients with highe ... Full text Link to item Cite

A guide to successful management of collaborative partnerships in quantitative research: An illustration of the science of team science.

Journal Article Stat (Int Stat Inst) · June 2024 Data-intensive research continues to expand with the goal of improving healthcare delivery, clinical decision-making, and patient outcomes. Quantitative scientists, such as biostatisticians, epidemiologists, and informaticists, are tasked with turning data ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of geographical cohorting, multidisciplinary rounding and incremental case management support on hospital length of stay and readmission rates: a propensity weighted analysis.

Journal Article BMJ Open Qual · May 23, 2024 Hospital length of stay (LOS) in the USA has been increasing since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with numerous negative outcomes, including decreased quality of care, worsened patient satisfaction and negative financial impacts on hospitals. While ma ... Full text Link to item Cite

Comparative Effectiveness of Alternative Treatment Approaches to Secondary Hyperparathyroidism in Patients Receiving Maintenance Hemodialysis: An Observational Trial Emulation.

Journal Article Am J Kidney Dis · January 2024 RATIONALE & OBJECTIVE: Optimal approaches to treat secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) in patients on maintenance hemodialysis (HD) have yet to be established in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). STUDY DESIGN: Two observational clinical trial emulation ... Full text Link to item Cite

Racial Differences in Factors Associated with Patient-Reported Pain

Conference JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY · 2024 Cite

Quality Improvement Study Using a Machine Learning Mortality Risk Prediction Model Notification System on Advance Care Planning in High-Risk Patients.

Journal Article J Brown Hosp Med · 2024 BACKGROUND: Advance care planning (ACP) is an important aspect of patient care that is underutilized. Machine learning (ML) models can help identify patients appropriate for ACP. The objective was to evaluate the impact of using provider notifications base ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of a hospital service for adults with chronic childhood-onset disease: A propensity weighted analysis.

Journal Article J Hosp Med · December 2023 BACKGROUND: Young adults with chronic childhood-onset diseases (CCOD) transitioning care from pediatrics to adult care are at high risk for readmission after hospital discharge. At our institution, we have implemented an inpatient service, the Med-Peds (MP ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Telemedicine Referral to Improve Access to Specialty Care for Preschool Children in Rural Alaska: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial.

Journal Article Ear Hear · November 2023 OBJECTIVES: Preschool programs provide essential preventive services, such as hearing screening, but in rural regions, limited access to specialists and loss to follow-up compound rural health disparities. We conducted a parallel-arm cluster-randomized con ... Full text Link to item Cite

A Hybrid Deep Learning Approach to Identify Preventable Childhood Hearing Loss.

Journal Article Ear and hearing · September 2023 ObjectiveChildhood hearing loss has well-known, lifelong consequences. Infection-related hearing loss disproportionately affects underserved communities yet can be prevented with early identification and treatment. This study evaluates the utility ... Full text Cite

Prevalence of Childhood Hearing Loss in Rural Alaska.

Journal Article Ear and hearing · September 2023 ObjectivesChildhood hearing loss has well-known lifelong consequences. Certain rural populations are at higher risk for infection-related hearing loss. For Alaska Native children, historical data on hearing loss prevalence suggest a higher burden ... Full text Cite

MASI, a Smartphone App to Improve Treatment Adherence Among South African Adolescents and Young Adults With HIV: Protocol for a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Journal Article JMIR research protocols · September 2023 BackgroundAdolescents and young adults with HIV repeatedly demonstrate low rates of antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence as well as low rates of viral suppression. Digital health interventions are a promising way to engage adolescents and young ... Full text Cite

Changing the Paradigm for School Hearing Screening Globally: Evaluation of Screening Protocols From Two Randomized Trials in Rural Alaska.

Journal Article Ear and hearing · July 2023 ObjectivesDiagnostic accuracy was evaluated for various screening tools, including mobile health (mHealth) pure-tone screening, tympanometry, distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE), and inclusion of high frequencies to determine the most ... Full text Cite

Goal-Concordance in Children with Complex Chronic Conditions.

Journal Article J Pediatr · February 2023 OBJECTIVES: To characterize delivery of goal-concordant end-of-life (EOL) care among children with complex chronic conditions and to determine factors associated with goal-concordance. STUDY DESIGN: This was a retrospective review of goals of care discussi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Environmental Factors for Hearing Loss and Middle Ear Disease in Alaska Native Children and Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Analysis from a Cluster Randomized Trial.

Journal Article Ear and hearing · January 2023 ObjectivesInfection-related childhood hearing loss is one of the few preventable chronic health conditions that can affect a child's lifelong trajectory. This study sought to quantify relationships between infection-mediated hearing loss and middl ... Full text Cite

Development of an Administrative Data-Based Frailty Index for Older Adults Receiving Dialysis.

Journal Article Kidney360 · September 29, 2022 BACKGROUND: Frailty is present in ≥50% of older adults receiving dialysis. Our objective was to a develop an administrative data-based frailty index and assess the frailty index's predictive validity for mortality and future hospitalizations. METHODS: We u ... Full text Link to item Cite

Redesigning Care of Hospitalized Young Adults With Chronic Childhood-Onset Disease.

Journal Article Cureus · August 2022 Background Young adults with chronic childhood-onset disease (CCOD) are routinely admitted to internal medicine hospitalist services, yet most lack transition preparation to adult care. Providers and patients feel the strain of admissions to adult services ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Mobile health school screening and telemedicine referral to improve access to specialty care in rural Alaska: a cluster- randomised controlled trial.

Journal Article Lancet Glob Health · July 2022 BACKGROUND: School-based programmes, including hearing screening, provide essential preventive services for rural children. However, minimal evidence on screening methodologies, loss to follow-up, and scarcity of specialists for subsequent care compound ru ... Full text Link to item Cite

Temporal Dynamics of Subclinical Malaria in Different Transmission Zones of Myanmar.

Journal Article The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · July 2022 Countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion have committed to eliminate Plasmodium falciparum malaria by 2025. Subclinical malaria infections that can be detected by highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing in asymptomatic individuals represe ... Full text Cite

Community-Based Malaria Testing Reduces Polypharmacy in a Population-Based Survey of Febrile Illness in Western Kenya.

Journal Article Int J Public Health · 2022 Objective: The objective was to describe the relationship between the location of care, the malaria test result, and the type of medicine consumed for the fever, and to determine whether community-based access to malaria testing reduced polypharmacy. Metho ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Selah study protocol of three interventions to manage stress among clergy: a preference-based randomized waitlist control trial.

Journal Article Trials · December 2021 IntroductionLike many helping professionals in emotional labor occupations, clergy experience high rates of mental and physical comorbidities. Regular stress management practices may reduce stress-related symptoms and morbidity, but more research ... Full text Cite

Epic Allies: A Gamified Mobile App to Improve Engagement in HIV Care and Antiretroviral Adherence among Young Men Who have Sex with Men.

Journal Article AIDS and behavior · August 2021 HIV incidence among young men who have sex with men (YMSM) is disproportionally high. Youth living with HIV demonstrate low rates of sustained virologic suppression (VS). Epic Allies, a theory-based behavioral intervention mobile app, utilizes self-managem ... Full text Cite

Completeness of reporting and risks of overstating impact in cluster randomised trials: a systematic review.

Journal Article Lancet Glob Health · August 2021 Overstating the impact of interventions through incomplete or inaccurate reporting can lead to inappropriate scale-up of interventions with low impact. Accurate reporting of the impact of interventions is of great importance in global health research to pr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Statins and atherosclerotic cardiovascular outcomes in patients on incident dialysis and with atherosclerotic heart disease.

Journal Article Am Heart J · January 2021 UNLABELLED: Statins failed to reduce cardiovascular (CV) events in trials of patients on dialysis. However, trial populations used criteria that often excluded those with atherosclerotic heart disease (ASHD), in whom statins have the greatest benefit, and ... Full text Link to item Cite

Trends in Mineral Metabolism Treatment Strategies in Patients Receiving Hemodialysis in the United States.

Journal Article Clin J Am Soc Nephrol · November 6, 2020 BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: With multiple medications indicated for mineral metabolism, dialysis providers can apply various strategies to achieve target phosphate and parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels. We describe common prescribing patterns and practice va ... Full text Link to item Cite

Predictors of Condomless Anal Intercourse in Young HIV-Positive Men Who Have Sex With Men With Detectable Viral Loads.

Journal Article The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine · June 2020 PurposeA minority of young, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (YGBMSM) living with HIV in the U.S. achieve viral suppression, thus increasing the likelihood of viral transmission during condomless anal intercourse (CAI). The purpo ... Full text Cite

Greenspace, physical activity, and BMI in children from two cities in northern Mexico.

Journal Article Prev Med Rep · June 2019 Numerous previous studies have reported positive associations between exposure to greenspace and children's physical activity, but in high-income countries only. Prior studies have also examined greenspace and obesity in children, but these have yielded in ... Full text Link to item Cite

Improving rational use of ACTs through diagnosis-dependent subsidies: Evidence from a cluster-randomized controlled trial in western Kenya.

Journal Article PLoS Med · July 2018 BACKGROUND: More than half of artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) consumed globally are dispensed in the retail sector, where diagnostic testing is uncommon, leading to overconsumption and poor targeting. In many malaria-endemic countries, ACTs sold o ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Epic Allies, a Gamified Mobile Phone App to Improve Engagement in Care, Antiretroviral Uptake, and Adherence Among Young Men Who Have Sex With Men and Young Transgender Women Who Have Sex With Men: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Journal Article JMIR research protocols · April 2018 BackgroundIn the United States, young men who have sex with men (YMSM) and transgender women who have sex with men (YTWSM) bear a disproportionate burden of prevalent and incident HIV infections. Once diagnosed, many YMSM and YTWSM struggle to eng ... Full text Cite

Dynamic malaria hotspots in an open cohort in western Kenya.

Journal Article Sci Rep · January 12, 2018 Malaria hotspots, defined as areas where transmission intensity exceeds the average level, become more pronounced as transmission declines. Targeting hotspots may accelerate reductions in transmission and could be pivotal for malaria elimination. Determina ... Full text Link to item Cite

A mobile health technology platform for quality assurance and quality improvement of malaria diagnosis by community health workers.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2018 BACKGROUND: Community health workers (CHWs) play an important role in improving access to services in areas with limited health infrastructure or workforce. Supervision of CHWs by qualified health professionals is the main link between this lay workforce a ... Full text Link to item Cite

Innovative public-private partnership to target subsidised antimalarials: a study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial to evaluate a community intervention in Western Kenya.

Journal Article BMJ Open · March 20, 2017 INTRODUCTION: There are concerns of inappropriate use of subsidised antimalarials due to the large number of fevers treated in the informal sector with minimal access to diagnostic testing. Targeting antimalarial subsidies to confirmed malaria cases can le ... Full text Link to item Cite

Efficacy of iron-supplement bars to reduce anemia in urban Indian women: a cluster-randomized controlled trial.

Journal Article Am J Clin Nutr · March 2017 Background: India's high prevalence of iron-deficiency anemia has largely been attributed to the local diet consisting of nonheme iron, which has lower absorption than that of heme iron.Objective: We assessed the efficacy of the consumption of iron-supplem ... Full text Link to item Cite

Evaluation of a Physical Activity Regulation for Child Care in Massachusetts.

Journal Article Child Obes · February 2017 OBJECTIVES: A number of states have enacted regulations to increase physical activity in children attending child care, but most were not evaluated. In 2010, Massachusetts (MA) enacted a new regulation requiring 60 minutes of light, moderate, and vigorous ... Full text Link to item Cite

A nurse-delivered mental health intervention for obstetric fistula patients in Tanzania: results of a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Journal Article Pilot and feasibility studies · January 2017 BackgroundObstetric fistula has severe psychological consequences, but no evidence-based interventions exist to improve mental health in this population. This pilot trial evaluated a psychological intervention for women receiving surgical care for ... Full text Cite

Development and validation of a rapid assessment tool for malaria prevention.

Journal Article Malar J · November 8, 2016 BACKGROUND: Insecticide-treated bed nets (ITN) have been shown to be efficacious in reducing malaria morbidity and mortality in many regions. Unfortunately in some areas, malaria has persisted despite the scale up of ITNs. Recent reports indicate that huma ... Full text Link to item Cite

Deterring Rearrests for Drinking and Driving.

Journal Article Southern economic journal · October 2016 This study assesses why some individuals are re-arrested for driving while intoxicated (DWI). Using longitudinal data from North Carolina containing information on arrests and arrest outcomes, we test hypotheses that individuals prosecuted and convicted of ... Full text Cite

Assessing the independent and combined effects of subsidies for antimalarials and rapid diagnostic testing on fever management decisions in the retail sector: results from a factorial randomised trial in western Kenya.

Journal Article BMJ Glob Health · 2016 OBJECTIVES: There is an urgent need to understand how to improve targeting of artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) to patients with confirmed malaria infection, including subsidised ACTs sold over-the-counter. We hypothesised that offering an antimalarial ... Full text Link to item Cite

Using pay for performance incentives (P4P) to improve management of suspected malaria fevers in rural Kenya: a cluster randomized controlled trial.

Journal Article BMC Med · October 16, 2015 BACKGROUND: Inappropriate treatment of non-malaria fevers with artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) is a growing concern, particularly in light of emerging artemisinin resistance, but it is a behavior that has proven difficult to change. Pay for ... Full text Link to item Cite

A community-based intervention increases physical activity and reduces obesity in school-age children in North Carolina.

Journal Article Child Obes · June 2015 BACKGROUND: Community-based interventions are promising approaches to obesity prevention, but few studies have prospectively evaluated them. The aim of this study was to evaluate a natural experiment—a community intervention designed to promote active livi ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Promoting breastfeeding in child care through state regulation.

Journal Article Matern Child Health J · April 2015 Policies supporting breastfeeding vary by state, but little is known about the geographical aspects of this variation. This study describes state breastfeeding licensing and administrative regulations targeting child care settings, compares regulations wit ... Full text Link to item Cite

What Is Threatening the Effectiveness of Insecticide-Treated Bednets? A Case-Control Study of Environmental, Behavioral, and Physical Factors Associated with Prevention Failure.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2015 BACKGROUND: Insecticide-treated nets are the cornerstone of global malaria control and have been shown to reduce malaria morbidity by 50-60%. However, some areas are experiencing a resurgence in malaria following successful control. We describe an efficacy ... Full text Link to item Cite

Spatial autocorrelation in uptake of antenatal care and relationship to individual, household and village-level factors: results from a community-based survey of pregnant women in six districts in western Kenya.

Journal Article Int J Health Geogr · December 7, 2013 BACKGROUND: The majority of maternal deaths, stillbirths, and neonatal deaths are concentrated in a few countries, many of which have weak health systems, poor access to health services, and low coverage of key health interventions. Early and consistent an ... Full text Link to item Cite

Deterring domestic violence: Do criminal sanctions reduce repeat offenses?

Journal Article Journal of Risk and Uncertainty · February 1, 2013 This study presents an empirical analysis of domestic violence case resolution in North Carolina for the years 2004 to 2010. The key hypothesis is that penalties at the level set for domestic violence crimes reduce recidivism (re-arrest on domestic violenc ... Full text Cite

Heavy episodic drinking in early adulthood and outcomes in midlife.

Journal Article Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · May 2011 ObjectiveThis study assessed to what extent drinking patterns of young adults persist into midlife and whether frequent heavy episodic drinking as a young adult is associated with educational attainment, labor market, and health outcomes at midlif ... Full text Cite

Information, risk perceptions, and smoking choices of youth

Journal Article Journal of Risk and Uncertainty · April 1, 2011 Conventional wisdom maintains that youths take risks because they underestimate probabilities of harm. Presumably if they knew the true probabilities, they would behave differently. We used the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to assess whether d ... Full text Cite

The effects of residential proximity to bars on alcohol consumption.

Journal Article International journal of health care finance and economics · December 2010 A person's decision to drink alcohol is potentially influenced by both price and availability of alcohol in the local area. This study uses longitudinal data from 1985 to 2001 to empirically assess the impact of distance from place of residence to bars on ... Full text Cite

Alcohol-consumption trajectories and associated characteristics among adults older than age 50.

Journal Article Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · March 2010 ObjectiveThis study examined changes in drinking behavior after age 50 and baseline personal characteristics and subsequent life events associated with different alcohol-consumption trajectories during a 14-year follow-up period.MethodDat ... Full text Cite

Changes in functional status among persons over age sixty-five undergoing total knee arthroplasty.

Journal Article Medical care · July 2009 BackgroundThis study assessed changes in physical functional status following receipt of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) for patients diagnosed with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee in a national sample of persons aged 65+ in the United States relati ... Full text Cite

Preferences, beliefs, and self-management of diabetes.

Journal Article Health services research · June 2009 ObjectiveTo assess relationships between self-assessed control over life events, subjective beliefs about longevity, time and risk preference, and other factors on use of recommended care for diabetes mellitus (DM), self-assessed control of diabet ... Full text Cite

"Commercialization," a perspective.

Journal Article Surgery · February 2008 Full text Cite