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Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Testing association in the presence of linkage - a powerful score for binary traits
Genetic Epidemiology
Early View Published Online 13 April 2007



We present a score for testing association in the presence of linkage for binary traits. The score is robust to varying degrees of linkage, and it is valid under any ascertainment scheme based on trait values as well as under population stratification.

The score test is derived from a mixed effects model where population level association is modeled using a fixed effect and where correlation among related individuals is allowed for by using log-gamma random effects.

We show that a random effects formulation of co-inheritance can improve the power substantially.

We apply the method to data from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism. We compare our findings to previously published results.

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