Estimating risk curves for first-degree relatives of patients with Alzheimer's disease: the REVEAL study.
OBJECTIVE
The REVEAL study is a randomized, controlled study of the psychological and behavioral impact of APOE disclosure in a risk assessment protocol provided to first degree relatives of patients with Alzheimer's disease. The protocol presents risk information as cumulative incidence curves. This article describes how these curves were estimated.


METHODS
Curves were calculated using Bayes' rule to compute the posterior survival curves incorporating APOE information.


RESULTS
A combination of survival data from the MIRAGE study and gender- and age-specific APOE odds ratios were used to create risk curves for males and females within each of the 6 APOE genotypes.


CONCLUSIONS
Utilizing comparative genotype relative risk information and survival data from family studies, estimates of gender-, age-, and genotype-specific risk can be generated for use in a risk assessment research study that features genotype disclosure.
Cupples
L Adrienne
LA
Departments of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany Street, Boston, MA 02118, USA.
Farrer
Lindsay A
LA
Sadovnick
A Dessa
AD
Relkin
Norman
N
Whitehouse
Peter
P
Green
Robert C
RC
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics; D053318:Apolipoprotein E3; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005192:Family Health; D005817:Genetic Counseling; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012306:Risk
D053318:Apolipoprotein E3; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D001057:Apolipoproteins E