Family-based methods for linkage and association analysis.
Traditional epidemiological study concepts such as case-control or cohort designs can be used in the design of genetic association studies, giving them a prominent role in genetic association analysis. A different class of designs based on related individuals, typically families, uses the concept of Mendelian transmission to achieve design-independent randomization, which permits the testing of linkage and association. Family-based designs require specialized analytic methods but they have distinct advantages: They are robust to confounding and variance inflation, which can arise in standard designs in the presence of population substructure; they test for both linkage and association; and they offer a natural solution to the multiple comparison problem. This chapter focuses on family-based designs. We describe some basic study designs as well as general approaches to analysis for qualitative, quantitative, and complex traits. Finally, we review available software.
Laird
Nan M
NM
Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Lange
Christoph
C
D005190:Family; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010375:Pedigree
D005819:Genetic Markers