Scholars@Duke
Vinit Nalawade

Vinit Nalawade

Biostatistician III
Duke Population Research Institute
vinit.nalawade@duke.edu
Duke Box 104023, Durham, NC 27701
215 Morris St, Suite 210, Durham, NC 27701

Selected Publications

Analyzing missingness patterns in real-world data using the SMDI toolkit: application to a linked EHR-claims pharmacoepidemiology study.

Journal Article BMC Med Res Methodol · October 19, 2024 BACKGROUND: Missing data in confounding variables present a frequent challenge in generating evidence using real-world data, including electronic health records (EHR). Our objective was to apply a recently published toolkit for characterizing missing data ... Full text Link to item Cite

Association of platinum-based chemotherapy with live birth and infertility in female survivors of adolescent and young adult cancer.

Journal Article Fertility and sterility · June 2024 ObjectiveTo estimate the effect of platinum-based chemotherapy on live birth (LB) and infertility after cancer, in order to address a lack of treatment-specific fertility risks for female survivors of adolescent and young adult cancer, which limit ... Full text Cite

The disproportionate burden of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) in diverse older adults diagnosed with cancer.

Journal Article Journal of geriatric oncology · November 2023 IntroductionOlder adults living with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) who are then diagnosed with cancer are an understudied population. While the role of cognitive impairment during and after cancer treatment have been well-studie ... Full text Cite

Associations Between Intraductal Prostate Cancer and Metastases Following Radical Prostatectomy in Men With Prostate Cancer in the Veterans Affairs Database.

Journal Article Clinical genitourinary cancer · August 2023 PurposeIntraductal carcinoma of the prostate (IDC-P) is a relatively unstudied feature present in some prostate cancer (PC) diagnoses with several studies suggesting associations with higher Gleason scores (GS) and earlier time to biochemical recu ... Full text Cite

Maternal comorbidity and adverse perinatal outcomes in survivors of adolescent and young adult cancer: A cohort study.

Journal Article BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · June 2023 ObjectiveTo evaluate risks of preterm birth (PTB) and severe maternal morbidity (SMM) in female survivors of adolescent and young adult cancer and assess maternal comorbidity as a potential mechanism. To determine whether associations differ by us ... Full text Cite

Evaluating High-Dimensional Machine Learning Models to Predict Hospital Mortality Among Older Patients With Cancer.

Journal Article JCO clinical cancer informatics · June 2022 PurposeOlder hospitalized cancer patients face high risks of hospital mortality. Improved risk stratification could help identify high-risk patients who may benefit from future interventions, although we lack validated tools to predict in-hospital ... Full text Cite

Disparities in Telemedicine Utilization for Urology Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Journal Article Urology · May 2022 ObjectiveTo determine the odds of accessing telemedicine either by phone or by video during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsWe performed a retrospective study of patients who were seen at a single academic institution for a urologic conditio ... Full text Cite

Impacts of an Opioid Safety Initiative on US Veterans Undergoing Cancer Treatment.

Journal Article Journal of the National Cancer Institute · May 2022 BackgroundThere is limited research on how the opioid epidemic and consequent risk reduction policies have affected pain management among cancer patients. The purpose of this study was to analyze how the Opioid Safety Initiative (OSI) implemented ... Full text Cite

Long-term antimüllerian hormone patterns differ by cancer treatment exposures in young breast cancer survivors.

Journal Article Fertility and sterility · May 2022 ObjectiveTo compare antimüllerian hormone (AMH) patterns by cancer status and treatment exposures across 6 years after incident breast cancer using administrative data.DesignIn a cross-sectional design, AMH levels in patients who develope ... Full text Cite

Evaluating Prostate-Specific Antigen Screening for Young African American Men With Cancer.

Journal Article Journal of the National Cancer Institute · April 2022 BackgroundDespite higher risks associated with prostate cancer, young African American men are poorly represented in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) trials, which limits proper evidence-based guidance. We evaluated the impact of PSA screening, alo ... Full text Cite

Association of Health-Care System and Survival in African American and Non-Hispanic White Patients With Bladder Cancer.

Journal Article Journal of the National Cancer Institute · April 2022 BackgroundAfrican American patients with bladder cancer have inferior outcomes compared with non-Hispanic White (White) patients. We hypothesize that access to health care is a primary determinant of this disparity. We compared outcomes by race fo ... Full text Cite

Temporal Trends and Predictors of Opioid Use Among Older Patients With Cancer.

Journal Article American journal of clinical oncology · February 2022 ObjectivesWhile opioids represent a cornerstone of cancer pain management, the timing and patterns of opioid use in the cancer population have not been well studied. This study sought to explore longitudinal trends in opioid use among Medicare ben ... Full text Cite

Disparities in telemedicine during COVID-19.

Journal Article Cancer medicine · February 2022 BackgroundOncology rapidly shifted to telemedicine in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Telemedicine can increase access to healthcare, but recent research has shown disparities exist with telemedicine use during the pandemic. This study evaluate ... Full text Cite

Metastasis and Mortality in Men With Low- and Intermediate-Risk Prostate Cancer on Active Surveillance.

Journal Article Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network : JNCCN · February 2022 BackgroundActive surveillance (AS) is a safe treatment option for men with low-risk, localized prostate cancer. However, the safety of AS for patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer remains unclear.Patients and methodsWe identifie ... Full text Cite

Association of Physician Referrals with Timely Cancer Care Using Tumor Registry and Claims Data.

Journal Article Health equity · January 2022 More Americans are being screened for and more are surviving colorectal cancer due to advanced treatments and better quality of care; however, these benefits are not equitably distributed among diverse or older populations. Differential care delivery outco ... Full text Cite

Active surveillance for intermediate-risk prostate cancer in African American and non-Hispanic White men.

Journal Article Cancer · December 2021 BackgroundThe safety of active surveillance (AS) for African American men compared with non-Hispanic White (White) men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer is unclear.MethodsThe authors identified patients with modified National Compreh ... Full text Cite

Impact of underlying malignancy on emergency department utilization and outcomes.

Journal Article Cancer medicine · December 2021 PurposeCancer patients frequently utilize the emergency department (ED) for a variety of diagnoses both related to and unrelated to their cancer, yet ED outcomes for cancer patients are not well documented. This study sought to define risks and id ... Full text Cite

The Influence of Patient-Provider Language Concordance in Cancer Care: Results of the Hispanic Outcomes by Language Approach (HOLA) Randomized Trial.

Journal Article International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics · November 2021 PurposeDelivering linguistically competent care is critical to serving patients who have limited English proficiency (LEP) and represents a key national strategy to help reduce health disparities. Current acceptable standards of communication with ... Full text Cite

Predicting Unplanned Hospitalization Among Patients Receiving Definitive Radiation.

Journal Article International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics · November 2021 Purpose/objective(s)A small fraction of cancer patients receiving definitive radiation experience unplanned hospitalizations related to treatment, which potentially leads to substantial morbidity or mortality. Identifying patients at high risk of ... Full text Cite

Evaluating Clinical Trends and Benefits of Low-Dose CT in Lung Cancer Patients.

Journal Article International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics · November 2021 Purpose/objective(s)Despite recent guideline recommendations, the utilization of low-dose CT (LDCT) for lung cancer screening has remained low. Little is known about the driving factors behind these low rates or the effect of real-world LDCT utili ... Full text Cite

Impact of Facility Treatment Volume on Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy (SABR) Outcomes in Early-Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC).

Journal Article International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics · November 2021 Purpose/objective(s)Prior research suggests that radiation oncologist provider experience may influence outcomes for radiation treatment modalities requiring greater technical expertise for given disease sites. We investigated whether institution ... Full text Cite

Evaluating the clinical trends and benefits of low-dose computed tomography in lung cancer patients.

Journal Article Cancer medicine · October 2021 BackgroundDespite guideline recommendations, utilization of low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) for lung cancer screening remains low. The driving factors behind these low rates and the real-world effect of LDCT utilization on lung cancer outcomes ... Full text Cite

Outcomes for Muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer with Radical Cystectomy or Trimodal Therapy in US Veterans.

Journal Article European urology open science · August 2021 BackgroundMuscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) remains undertreated despite multiple potentially curative options. Both radical cystectomy (RC) with or without neoadjuvant chemotherapy and trimodal therapy (TMT), including transurethral resection ... Full text Cite

Racial, Ethnic, and Socioeconomic Discrepancies in Opioid Prescriptions Among Older Patients With Cancer.

Journal Article JCO oncology practice · June 2021 PurposeMinority race and lower socioeconomic status are associated with lower rates of opioid prescription and undertreatment of pain in multiple noncancer healthcare settings. It is not known whether these differences in opioid prescribing exist ... Full text Cite

Impact of cancer on the risk of unplanned 30-day readmissions.

Journal Article Journal of Clinical Oncology · May 20, 2021 6581 Background: Hospital readmission are associated with unfavorable patient outcomes and increased costs to the healthcare system. Devising interventions to reduce risks of readmission requires understanding patients at highest ... Full text Cite

Impact of the VA opioid safety initiative on pain management for cancer patients.

Journal Article Journal of Clinical Oncology · May 20, 2021 102 Background: Limited research exists on how risk reduction policies in response to the opioid epidemic have impacted pain management among cancer patients. This study investigated the impact of the Veteran’s Health Administrat ... Full text Cite

Impact of cancer on emergency department outcomes.

Journal Article Journal of Clinical Oncology · May 20, 2021 e18618 Background: Cancer patients frequently utilize the Emergency Department (ED) for a variety of diagnoses, both related and unrelated to their cancer. Patients with cancer have unique risks related to their cancer and treatm ... Full text Cite

Evaluating a high-dimensional machine-learning model to predict hospital mortality among elderly cancer patients.

Journal Article Journal of Clinical Oncology · May 20, 2021 1512 Background: Elderly hospitalized cancer patients face high risks of inpatient hospital mortality. Identifying patients at high risk of hospital mortality could help with risk stratification, and potentially help inform futur ... Full text Cite

Association of increased intensity of prostate-specific antigen screening in younger African American men with improved prostate cancer outcomes.

Journal Article Journal of Clinical Oncology · May 20, 2021 5004 Background: African-American (AA) men are substantially more likely to present with lethal prostate cancer (PCa) at younger ages than non-Hispanic White men. Despite this disparity, AA men are poorly represented in the prost ... Full text Cite

Predictors of inpatient admission for pediatric cancer patients visiting the emergency department.

Journal Article Journal of Clinical Oncology · May 20, 2021 e22019 Background: Pediatric cancer patients represent a vulnerable cohort at risk of adverse outcomes after presenting to the emergency department (ED). Given the severity of cancer-related complications and uniqueness of this p ... Full text Cite

Prognostic utility of pretreatment neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in survival outcomes in localized non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy: Selection of an ideal clinical cutoff point.

Journal Article Clinical and translational radiation oncology · May 2021 Background and purposeNeutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been associated with overall survival (OS) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We aimed to assess the utility of NLR as a predictor of lung cancer-specific survival (LCS) and identify ... Full text Cite

Association of Prostate-Specific Antigen Velocity With Clinical Progression Among African American and Non-Hispanic White Men Treated for Low-Risk Prostate Cancer With Active Surveillance.

Journal Article JAMA network open · May 2021 ImportanceThe association of prostate-specific antigen velocity (PSAV) with clinical progression in patients with localized prostate cancer managed with active surveillance remains unclear and, to our knowledge, has not been studied in African Ame ... Full text Cite

Validation of an oncology-specific opioid risk calculator in cancer survivors.

Journal Article Cancer · May 2021 BackgroundClinical guidelines recommend that providers risk-stratify patients with cancer before prescribing opioids. Prior research has demonstrated that a simple cancer opioid risk score might help identify to patients with cancer at the time of ... Full text Cite

Clinical Data Prediction Model to Identify Patients With Early-Stage Pancreatic Cancer.

Journal Article JCO clinical cancer informatics · March 2021 PurposePancreatic cancer is an aggressive malignancy with patients often experiencing nonspecific symptoms before diagnosis. This study evaluates a machine learning approach to help identify patients with early-stage pancreatic cancer from clinica ... Full text Cite

Impact of equal access healthcare on race disparities in bladder cancer.

Journal Article Journal of Clinical Oncology · February 20, 2021 399 Background: Outcomes in bladder cancer are disproportionately worse for black patients compared to white patients. We hypothesize these disparities arise in part due to differences in access to healthcare and therefore may be ... Full text Cite

African-American men with low-risk prostate cancer treated with radical prostatectomy in an equal-access health care system: implications for active surveillance.

Journal Article Prostate cancer and prostatic diseases · December 2020 BackgroundThere is concern that African-American men (AA) with low-risk prostate cancer may present with more aggressive disease and thus may not be candidates for active surveillance (AS). However, it is uncertain if poorer outcomes are due to di ... Full text Cite

Association Between African American Race and Clinical Outcomes in Men Treated for Low-Risk Prostate Cancer With Active Surveillance.

Journal Article JAMA · November 2020 ImportanceThere is concern that African American men with low-risk prostate cancer may harbor more aggressive disease than non-Hispanic White men. Therefore, it is unclear whether active surveillance is a safe option for African American men.O ... Full text Cite

Trends in short-term, long-term, and high-risk opioid use among older cancer patients.

Journal Article Journal of Clinical Oncology · October 10, 2020 187 Background: While opioids represent a cornerstone of cancer pain management, the timing and patterns of persistent and high-risk opioid use in the context of the ongoing opioid epidemic are not well studied. This study sought ... Full text Cite

Associations among statins, preventive care, and prostate cancer mortality.

Journal Article Prostate cancer and prostatic diseases · September 2020 BackgroundIncreasing evidence indicates an association between statins and reduced prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM). However, significant bias may exist in these studies. One particularly challenging bias to assess is the healthy user eff ... Full text Cite

Predicting Persistent Opioid Use, Abuse, and Toxicity Among Cancer Survivors.

Journal Article Journal of the National Cancer Institute · July 2020 BackgroundAlthough opioids play a critical role in the management of cancer pain, the ongoing opioid epidemic has raised concerns regarding their persistent use and abuse. We lack data-driven tools in oncology to understand the risk of adverse opi ... Full text Cite

Evaluation of the Use of Cancer Registry Data for Comparative Effectiveness Research.

Journal Article JAMA network open · July 2020 ImportanceResearchers often analyze cancer registry data to assess for differences in survival among cancer treatments. However, the retrospective, nonrandomized design of these analyses raises questions about study validity.ObjectiveTo e ... Full text Cite

Tobacco smoking and death from prostate cancer in US veterans.

Journal Article Prostate cancer and prostatic diseases · June 2020 BackgroundCigarette smoking is a risk factor for mortality in several genitourinary cancers, likely due to accumulation of carcinogens in urine. However, in prostate cancer (PC) the link has been less studied. We evaluated differences in prostate ... Full text Cite

Palliative Radiotherapy Versus Esophageal Stent Placement in the Management of Patients With Metastatic Esophageal Cancer.

Journal Article Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network : JNCCN · May 2020 BackgroundPatients with advanced esophageal cancer often experience pain and dysphagia, yet the optimal palliative management remains unclear. This retrospective study evaluated outcomes and adverse effects of palliative radiotherapy (RT) compared ... Full text Cite

Risk of Pelvic Fracture With Radiation Therapy in Older Patients.

Journal Article International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics · March 2020 PurposeOlder patients undergoing radiation therapy (RT) for pelvic malignancies are at increased risk for pelvic fracture, which is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. RT techniques such as brachytherapy or intensity modulated RT ... Full text Cite

Stroke and thromboembolic events in men with prostate cancer treated with definitive radiation therapy with or without androgen deprivation therapy.

Journal Article Prostate cancer and prostatic diseases · December 2019 BackgroundThere is conflicting evidence regarding the association between androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer (PC) and the risk of developing stroke and thromboembolic events. Our study evaluated the association between ADT use ... Full text Cite

Incorporating palliative radiotherapy education into hospice and palliative medicine fellowship training: a feasibility study.

Journal Article Annals of palliative medicine · September 2019 BackgroundInsufficient knowledge of radiotherapy among hospice and palliative medicine (HPM) physicians is a barrier to providing optimal palliative care. We sought to assess the impact of a palliative radiotherapy curriculum on the knowledge, att ... Full text Cite

Pneumococcal Vaccination Utilization Among Hispanic Long-Term Colorectal Cancer Survivors: Cross-Sectional Assessment of Claims.

Journal Article JMIR public health and surveillance · May 2019 BackgroundColorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cancer-related cause of death in the United States. However, survivorship has been increasing. Both cancer survivors and underserved populations experience unique health-related challenges an ... Full text Cite

Androgen deprivation therapy and depression in men with prostate cancer treated with definitive radiation therapy.

Journal Article Cancer · April 2019 BackgroundThere is no consensus on the association between the use of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and the risk of developing depression. This study investigated the association between ADT use and the development of depression, outpatient p ... Full text Cite

Claims-Based Approach to Predict Cause-Specific Survival in Men With Prostate Cancer.

Journal Article JCO clinical cancer informatics · March 2019 PurposeTreatment decisions about localized prostate cancer depend on accurate estimation of the patient's life expectancy. Current cancer and noncancer survival models use a limited number of predefined variables, which could restrict their predic ... Full text Cite