Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25888290›Full record

ArticleBMC bioinformatics2015

The effect of rare variants on inflation of the test statistics in case-control analyses.

Ailith Pirie, Angela Wood, Michael Lush, Jonathan Tyrer, Paul D P Pharoah

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC bioinformatics, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Rare Variants in the DNA Repair Pathway and the Risk of Colorectal Cancer.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2021
    Article
  3. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Ailith PirieDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, Strangeways Research Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 2 Worts' Causeway, Cambridge, CB1 8RN, UK. ap736@medschl.cam.ac.uk.
Angela WoodDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, Strangeways Research Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 2 Worts' Causeway, Cambridge, CB1 8RN, UK. amw79@medschl.cam.ac.uk.
Michael LushDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, Strangeways Research Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 2 Worts' Causeway, Cambridge, CB1 8RN, UK. mjl81@medschl.cam.ac.uk.
Jonathan TyrerDepartment of Oncology, Strangeways Research Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 2 Worts' Causeway, Cambridge, CB1 8RN, UK. jpt34@medschl.cam.ac.uk.
Paul D P PharoahDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, Strangeways Research Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 2 Worts' Causeway, Cambridge, CB1 8RN, UK. pp10001@medschl.cam.ac.uk.

Funding

British Heart Foundation RG/08/014/24067Cancer Research UK 10119Cancer Research UK 10124Cancer Research UK 16561Cancer Research UK C490/A16561Medical Research Council MR/L003120/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe detection of bias due to cryptic population structure is an important step in the evaluation of findings of genetic association studies. The standard method of measuring this bias in a genetic association study is to compare the observed median association test statistic to the expected median test statistic. This ratio is inflated in the presence of cryptic population structure. However, inflation may also be caused by the properties of the association test itself particularly in the analysis of rare variants. We compared the properties of the three most commonly used association tests: the likelihood ratio test, the Wald test and the score test when testing rare variants for association using simulated data.

resultsWe found evidence of inflation in the median test statistics of the likelihood ratio and score tests for tests of variants with less than 20 heterozygotes across the sample, regardless of the total sample size. The test statistics for the Wald test were under-inflated at the median for variants below the same minor allele frequency.

conclusionsIn a genetic association study, if a substantial proportion of the genetic variants tested have rare minor allele frequencies, the properties of the association test may mask the presence or absence of bias due to population structure. The use of either the likelihood ratio test or the score test is likely to lead to inflation in the median test statistic in the absence of population structure. In contrast, the use of the Wald test is likely to result in under-inflation of the median test statistic which may mask the presence of population structure.

Indexed as

Data Interpretation, StatisticalModels, GeneticModels, StatisticalCase-Control StudiesComputer SimulationGene FrequencyGenetic Association StudiesGenetic MarkersGenetic Predisposition to DiseaseGenetic VariationHeterozygoteHumansGenetic Markers

Identifiers

PMID25888290
PMCPMC4339749

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.