ArticleInternational journal of epidemiology2020
Inference about causation from examination of familial confounding (ICE FALCON): a model for assessing causation analogous to Mendelian randomization.
Article in International journal of epidemiology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed.
- Longitudinal changes in the genetic and environmental influences on DNA methylation linked to obesity measures: a 5-year twin study.Molecular biomedicine · 2025Article
- Genetic influences on the association between DNA methylation and obesity measures: insights from a twin study design.Cell & bioscience · 2025Article
- Twin pair analysis uncovers links between DNA methylation, mitochondrial DNA quantity and obesity.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Epigenome-wide association study of Chinese monozygotic twins identifies DNA methylation loci associated with estimated glomerular filtration rate.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
- Breast and bowel cancers diagnosed in people 'too young to have cancer': A blueprint for research using family and twin studies.Genetic epidemiology · 2024Article
- Causation and familial confounding as explanations for the associations of polygenic risk scores with breast cancer: Evidence from innovative ICE FALCON and ICE CRISTAL analyses.Genetic epidemiology · 2024Article
- Longitudinal associations between fruit and vegetable intakes and depressive symptoms in middle-aged and older adults from four international twin cohorts.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Causal relationships between height and weight with distal tibia microarchitecture and geometry in adult female twin pairs.JBMR plus · 2024Article
- The metabolic signature of blood lipids: a causal inference study using twins.Journal of lipid research · 2024Article
- A cautionary note on the recently proposed ICE Falcon method.International journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- An epigenome-wide association study of waist circumference in Chinese monozygotic twins.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2024Article
- Causal relationships between breast cancer risk factors based on mammographic features.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2023Article
- Co-evolution of epidemiology and artificial intelligence: challenges and opportunities.International journal of epidemiology · 2023Article
- Response to Li and Hopper.American journal of human genetics · 2023Article
- Implications of family history and polygenic risk scores for causation.American journal of human genetics · 2023Article
- Is There a Causal Relationship between Physical Activity and Bone Microarchitecture? A Study of Adult Female Twin Pairs.Journal of bone and mineral research : the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research · 2023Article
- Population-based cohort study of oral contraceptive use and risk of depression.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2023Article
- DNA methylation and waist-to-hip ratio: an epigenome-wide association study in Chinese monozygotic twins.Journal of endocrinological investigation · 2022Article
- Birthweight, gestational age and familial confounding in sex differences in infant mortality: a matched co-twin control study of Brazilian male-female twin pairs identified by population data linkage.International journal of epidemiology · 2022Article
- DNA methylome analysis identifies BMI-related epigenetic changes associated with non-small cell lung cancer susceptibility.Cancer medicine · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
backgroundWe developed a method to make Inference about Causation from Examination of FAmiliaL CONfounding (ICE FALCON) using observational data for related individuals and considering changes in a pair of regression coefficients. ICE FALCON has some similarities to Mendelian randomization (MR) but uses in effect all the familial determinants of the exposure, not just those captured by measured genetic variants, and does not require genetic data nor make strong assumptions. ICE FALCON can assess tracking of a measure over time, an issue often difficult to assess using MR due to lack of a valid instrumental variable.
methodsWe describe ICE FALCON and present two empirical applications with simulations.
resultsWe found evidence consistent with body mass index (BMI) having a causal effect on DNA methylation at the ABCG1 locus, the same conclusion as from MR analyses but providing about 2.5 times more information per subject. We found evidence that tracking of BMI is consistent with longitudinal causation, as well as familial confounding. The simulations supported the validity of ICE FALCON.
conclusionsThere are conceptual similarities between ICE FALCON and MR, but empirically they are giving similar conclusions with possibly more information per subject from ICE FALCON. ICE FALCON can be applied to circumstances in which MR cannot be applied, such as when there is no a priori genetic knowledge and/or data available to create a valid instrumental variable, or when the assumptions underlying MR analysis are suspect. ICE FALCON could provide insights into causality for a wide range of public health questions.
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