Comparison of significance level at the true location using two linkage approaches: LODPAL and GENEFINDER
2003

Comparison of LODPAL and GENEFINDER for Linkage Analysis

Sample size: 4692 publication Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Hsu Fang-Chi, Hetmanski Jacqueline B, Li Lan, Markakis Diane, Jacobs Kevin, Shugart Yin Yao

Primary Institution: Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Hypothesis

How do the software packages LODPAL and GENEFINDER compare in their ability to detect genetic linkage for systolic blood pressure?

Conclusion

LODPA provided better power to detect linkage compared to GENEFINDER, but both programs had high false positive rates.

Supporting Evidence

  • Using LODPAL, the power of detecting one of the three major genes related to SBP is 44.4%.
  • The power of GENEFINDER is lower than that of LODPAL at 22.2%.
  • After adjusting for total cholesterol, both programs showed a high number of false positives.

Takeaway

The study looked at two computer programs that help find genes related to blood pressure. One program was better at finding these genes, but both made mistakes.

Methodology

The study used simulated data sets from Genetic Analysis Workshop 13 to compare the performance of LODPAL and GENEFINDER in detecting linkage for systolic blood pressure.

Potential Biases

The addition of covariates increased the risk of false positives.

Limitations

The comparison was limited and both software packages produced a high number of false positives.

Participant Demographics

The study involved 330 families with a total of 4692 individuals.

Statistical Information

P-Value

0.0013

Confidence Interval

(181.7, 203.1)

Statistical Significance

p<0.05

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1186/1471-2156-4-S1-S46

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