Families or Unrelated: The Evolving Debate in Genetic Association Studies.

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: David W. Fardo, University of Kentucky; Richard Charnigo, University of Kentucky; Michael Epstein, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2012-06-01
• Publisher: OMICS International
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2012 Fardo DW, et al.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2155-6180.1000e108
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Biometrics and Biostatistics
• ISSN: 2155-6180
• Volume: 3
• Issue: 4
• Start Page: e108
• End Page: e108
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported in part by grants from the National Center for Research Resources (5P20RR016481-12) and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (8 P20 GM103436-12) from the National Institutes of Health.
• Research Categories: Biology, Genetics; Biology, Biostatistics

Abstract

To help uncover the genetic determinants of complex disease, a scientist often designs an association study using either unrelated subjects or family members within pedigrees. But which of these two subject recruitment paradigms is preferable? This editorial addresses the debate over the relative merits of family- and population-based genetic association studies. We begin by briefly recounting the evolution of genetic epidemiology and the rich crossroads of statistics and genetics. We then detail the arguments for the two aforementioned paradigms in recent and current applications. Finally, we speculate on how the debate may progress with the emergence of next-generation sequencing technologies.