Cynthia (Cindy) S. Crowson

The research of Cynthia (Cindy) S. Crowson is focused on the epidemiology of rheumatic diseases, with a special interest in rheumatoid arthritis. As a statistician collaborating with rheumatologists for more than 20 years, her interests reflect both medical and statistical areas.

Crowson's program receives funding from several sources, including the National Institutes of Health, foundations and industry sponsors.

Focus areas

Crowson's statistical interests focus on methods used in population-based research, such as estimating lifetime risk and accelerated aging, estimating attributable risk in longitudinal cohort studies, and Poisson regression models. Other areas of interest include risk prediction models, calibration methods and survival analysis.

Using the population-based data resources of the Rochester Epidemiology Project, Crowson aims to improve health and long-term outcomes in patients with rheumatic diseases through investigation of the comorbidity burden.

Crowson has led several interdisciplinary investigations in this area, including with team members with expertise in rheumatology, epidemiology, gastroenterology, dermatology, nephrology and nursing.

Recent topics of these investigations include:

• Occurrence of gastrointestinal events in patients with rheumatoid arthritis compared with patients without rheumatoid arthritis
• Development of a risk prediction model to alert physicians which patients with rheumatoid arthritis are at high risk of developing serious infections
• Usefulness of the Framingham risk score among patients with rheumatoid arthritis
• Occurrence of herpes zoster in patients with rheumatoid arthritis compared with patients without rheumatoid arthritis

Significance to patient care

Crowson's research goal is to improve health and long-term outcomes in people with rheumatic diseases by investigating the comorbidity burden.