title: A test of linkage for complex discrete and continuous traits in nuclear families.
abstract: This article presents a score test for genetic linkage in nuclear families which applies to any trait having a distribution belonging to the exponential family, which includes binary and normal distributions, and distributions which are skewed or have nonnormal kurtosis. The specific distribution need not be specified and the method applies to sibships of arbitrary size. Tests of complex genetic effects are given, including unspecified mode of inheritance or additive, dominant, overdominant, and recessive modes of inheritance, covariates, multiple-locus models, including gene-gene interactions, and gene-environment interactions. The relation of our method to the Haseman-Elston methods is studied theoretically and by simulation.
authors.affiliation: University of Toronto, Ontario Cancer Institute, 610 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 2M9. tritchle@uhnres.utoronto.ca
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tritchler
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Shafagh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fallah
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D005260:Female; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008957:Models, Genetic; D015233:Models, Statistical; D020412:Multifactorial Inheritance; D009679:Nuclear Family; D010641:Phenotype; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable