Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42026678›Full record

ArticleGenome medicine2026

Empirical evaluation of analytic validity of polygenic scores.

Tian Lin, Jian Zeng, Scott D Gordon, Leanne Wallace, Laura Ziser, Sonia Shah, Oliver Pain, Ilja M Nolte, Harold Snieder, Lifelines Cohort Study and 7 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Genome medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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0 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

17 authors.

Tian LinInstitute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Jian ZengInstitute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Scott D GordonBrain and Mental Health Program, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia.
Leanne WallaceInstitute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Laura ZiserInstitute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Sonia ShahInstitute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Oliver PainDepartment of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King's College London, London, UK.
Ilja M NolteDepartment of Epidemiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Harold SniederDepartment of Epidemiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Lifelines Cohort Study
Paul A JamesPeter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
Nicholas G MartinBrain and Mental Health Program, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia.
Peter M VisscherInstitute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Eric LeePreciselee, Sydney, NSW, 2065, Australia.
Loic YengoInstitute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Anjali K HendersInstitute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Naomi R WrayInstitute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Naomi.wray@psych.ox.ac.uk.

Funding

Australian Research Council FL180100072National Health and Medical Research Council 1134300National Health and Medical Research Council 1173790National Health and Medical Research Council 1177268National Health and Medical Research Council 2000001NIMH NIH HHS 1R01MH121545-01:5115417Wellcome Trust fellowship 222811/Z/21/Z
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPolygenic scores (PGSs) are weighted sum scores of trait-associated alleles from up to millions of SNPs. As PGS research pivots to translation into health care settings a key issue for laboratories providing PGS is demonstration of analytical validity of PGS.

methodsWe report data from 6 individuals who have been genotyped multiple times using the same and different technologies. These data were generated as part of standard experimental design for quality control purposes in two research settings over many studies and over many years. Using this opportunistic design of technical variability, we provide an empirical evaluation of technical reproducibility of PGS from 115 traits of different genetic architectures.

resultsGiven a predefined set of SNP weights variability in PGS can reflect only SNP missingness or incorrect genotype call. We find very high reproducibility of SNP genotypes. In particular, the technical reproducibility of PGS generated from the same array technology and processed through the same quality control and imputation pipeline is very high. However, impact of missing SNPs varies between traits depending on the SNP’s weight for a trait. We provide a PGS quality score statistic (PGS:QS) that can be reported for each trait-specific score for an individual, to provide a quantitative assessment of the proportion of variation of the score that is captured by the SNPs genotyped/imputed for the individual. We provide an algorithm (PGS-impute) that updates the SNP weights of the scoring algorithm to the SNPs available for an individual, improving PGS accuracy.

conclusionsWhile validity of directly measured genotypes (whether from microarray or whole genome sequencing) is well-established, objective approaches to evaluate analytical reproducibility of PGS post-genotyping pipeline have been lacking. Here, we provide empirical data and an analysis framework which can be used by PGS providers to support understanding of analytical reproducibility and robustness.

Indexed as

Multifactorial InheritanceGenetic Risk ScoreGenome-Wide Association StudyGenotypeHumansPolymorphism, Single NucleotideReproducibility of ResultsPolygenic riskPolygenic scoresReproducibilityTechnical replication

Identifiers

PMID42026678
PMCPMC13238075

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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.