Implementing a unified approach to family-based tests of association.
We describe a broad class of family-based association tests that are adjusted for admixture; use either dichotomous or measured phenotypes; accommodate phenotype-unknown subjects; use nuclear families, sibships or a combination of the two, permit multiple nuclear families from a single pedigree; incorporate di- or multi-allelic marker data; allow additive, dominant or recessive models; and permit adjustment for covariates and gene-by-environment interactions. The test statistic is basically the covariance between a user-specified function of the genotype and a user-specified function of the trait. The distribution of the statistic is computed using the appropriate conditional distribution of offspring genotypes that adjusts for admixture.
Laird
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Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. laird@biostat.harvard.edu
Horvath
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Xu
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D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010641:Phenotype; D012984:Software; D013223:Statistics as Topic