Meredith L Wallace

Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Statistics, and Biostatistics

University of Pittsburgh

https://www.psychiatry.pitt.edu/about-us/meet-our-faculty-staff/faculty/meredith-l-wallace-phd

Abstract:

Sleep is a modifiable risk factor that can favorably influence adverse health outcomes. However, a recent paradigm shift suggests that sleep is not unidimensional; rather it is a multidimensional construct comprised of multiple domains (Regularity, Satisfaction, Sleepiness, Timing, Efficiency, Duration) and measured on multiple levels (e.g. self-report, behavioral [via actigraphy], or physiological [via polysomnography]).  In this talk, Dr. Wallace will discuss how she has leveraged her biostatistical expertise to obtain NIH funding to: (1) establish the multidimensionality of sleep; (2) evaluate how multiple dimensions of sleep change over the course of the lifespan; and (3) determine whether multidimensional sleep indices predict important health outcomes including mortality.  In the context of these applications she utilizes several methods ranging from the highly practical (e.g., counts of adverse sleep characteristics) to cutting-edge (e.g., non-elliptical clustering; permutation-based variable importance tests). To enhance generalizability and power – and to provide opportunities for external replication – Dr. Wallace applies these methods across several large cohorts, including the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study, Study of Osteoporotic Fractures, Sleep Heart Health Study, Wisconsin Sleep Cohort, and the Pittsburgh Lifespan Sleep Databank.