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Department of Biostatistics, Section on Statistical Genetics and Clinical Nutrition Research Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama
3To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dredden{at}ms.soph.uab.edu.
| ABSTRACT |
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KEY WORDS: association studies nonreplication population stratification Type I error statistical power
Over the past decade, numerous research projects have reported associations between nutritional phenotypes (obesity, type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus and energy expenditure) and regions of the human chromosomes (12). Unfortunately, many of the reported associations have not been replicated in independent research. The nonreplication of these association findings is a concern and has caused some researchers to question the utility of association methodology in genetic studies (35). When the weaknesses of genetic associations studies are presented, the confounding of association due to population stratification is often emphasized. However, opinions regarding the importance of population stratification in association studies vary greatly (69). In this paper, we briefly review the current literature regarding markers associated with nutrition-related phenotypes, specifically obesity and diabetes. We discuss the growing concern across many research fields regarding the nonreplication of association studies. We review the cited reasons for nonreplication with emphasis on population stratification and its consequences on study design and genetic research. We review recent statistical approaches to account for population stratification and present our perspective on additional likely causes of nonreplication. Finally, we present our opinion on the advancements in designs needed in obesity and diabetes genetic research.
| Obesity and Diabetes Association Studies. |
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| Limited Replication. |
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Many researchers have proposed reasons for the lack of reproducibility (2,8,1012). Population stratification, publication bias, effect heterogeneity, lack of Type I error control and lack of statistical power to detect small to moderate effects have all been suggested as potential reasons (6,8,11). Of these possible reasons, population stratification seems to have received the most attention (6).
| Population Stratification. |
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Because of the concern over potential population stratification leading to spurious results, family-based designs that are not confounded by population stratification have been highly utilized. Specifically, the original transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) introduced by Spielman et al. (17) has become a widely utilized design for genetic association studies because it is not susceptible to confounding by admixture or population stratification. Several authors (6,12) have recently questioned whether concern over population stratification warrants the shift to family-based designs. Cardon and Palmer (6) stated that few reported studies provide clear published examples of the biases created by population stratification. Furthermore, Wacholder et al. (8) indicated that a large bias due to population stratification is a rare occurrence unless a large correlation between allele frequencies and disease prevalence exists across ethnic groups that cannot be accounted for with questionnaire data on ethnic origin. Given the findings of Wacholder (8), we suggest that population stratification, though an important consideration in design and interpretation, does not account for the majority of nonreplicable association studies currently observed in the literature.
| Significance Level and Statistical Power. |
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Risch (9) and Lohmueller et al. (10) both provided the argument that inadequate power in replication studies may also be contributing to the large number of nonreplications. Under a true polygenic model, Risch (9) argued that the effect size for any single marker would be small to moderate. The meta-analyses conducted by Lohmueller et al. (10), for which they declared sufficient replication, support this conclusion with odds ratios for associated markers and phenotypes varying from 1.07 to 2.28. Given the limited number of individuals a given researcher has available to investigate associations, it is not surprising that numerous published results would fail to be replicated simply because of inadequate sample sizes.
| Increasing the Replicability of Association Studies. |
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| Identifying and Adjusting for Population Stratification. |
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Devlin (19), Satten (22) and Pritchard and Rosenberg (23) also proposed utilizing multiple-unlinked genetic markers that are presumed independent of disease to provide a formal test for detection of population stratification within case control designs. Pritchard et al. (24) demonstrated that unlinked genetic markers can be used to estimate the proportion of an individuals genome that is derived from unobserved parental populations. Building upon this idea, Hoggart et al. (25) demonstrated that population stratification can be statistically estimated and controlled in association studies by utilizing unlinked genetic markers unrelated to the marker under investigation. These methods, culminating with that of Hoggart et al., offer several important advantages. First, Hoggart et al. allow for measurement error in the estimated admixture. Second, Hoggart et al.s method is also easily adaptable to quantitative phenotypes. Third, these approaches estimate the variance due to admixture and therefore, even in the absence of confounding, may be useful by reducing residual variation in the phenotype and thereby increasing power. Finally, as stated above, these methods are equally valuable whether admixture or stratification are creating spurious associations or masking real associations.
Many authors believe that the use of the above methods to detect and control for the population stratification, coupled with careful adherence to standard epidemiologic methods, can greatly increase the acceptance of traditional association methods in genetic studies. We agree with several published papers (6,9,12) that association methodologies are essential to the investigation of genetic associations of complex diseases. However, we are concerned that recently published articles (6,8) may be misinterpreted by researchers in concluding that population stratification is not a concern. Because few examples of spurious results due to population stratification are found does not imply that the potential for spurious results is not a concern. This is true in part because it is not clear that we have conducted careful systematic investigations to determine how much problematic stratification or admixture is present. In the absence of an extremely thorough rigorous search for a phenomenon, lack of evidence cannot be interpreted as nonexistence. Furthermore, the results of Wacholder et al. (8) indicated that for studies of nonHispanic Caucasians of European decent bias due to population stratification may not be a major concern. However, Wacholder et al. (8) indicated that further work is needed to estimate the effect of population stratification within other populations. It is crucial that researchers be aware of the potential pitfalls created by population stratification. It is equally important that researchers are aware of the epidemiologic design methods that can protect against population stratification and recently developed statistical methods to account for spurious associations due to population stratification. Although research into genomic control and subpopulation identification methods are not complete, they show initial promise in protection against spurious associations due to population stratification. Furthermore, incorporating these statistical methods into association studies may provide substantial benefit. The identification of population substructure will provide greater ability to recognize effect heterogeneity, to identify masking of marker effects by subpopulation pooling and to increase statistical power to detect association by decreasing residual variation. Overall, utilizing statistical methods to identify and control for population stratification in association studies will assist in increasing the validity of results by removing the possibility that unobserved substructures in the data produced a spurious result. Otherwise, association studies without TDT-like analyses, genomic control or admixture estimation must acknowledge that any significant results may be spurious.
| Controlling Significance Levels and Power. |
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Locating and understanding the genetic factors of complex traits depends completely upon the researchers ability to correctly identify and replicate true associations between markers and disease. The recent advancements in statistical methods to detect and adjust for population stratification offer a new opportunity in the design of association studies. These recent advancements coupled with recommended adjustments in significance levels and statistical power are needed to produce replicable associations between markers and disease phenotypes. We recommend that all researchers designing association studies of markers and nutrition-related phenotypes incorporate these methods and recommendations into their studies.
| FOOTNOTES |
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2 Manuscript received 1 July 2003. ![]()
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