Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Summary statistic analyses can mistake confounding bias for heritability. / Holmes, John B; Speed, Doug; Balding, David J.
In: Genetic Epidemiology, Vol. 43, No. 8, 12.2019, p. 930-940.Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Summary statistic analyses can mistake confounding bias for heritability
AU - Holmes, John B
AU - Speed, Doug
AU - Balding, David J
N1 - © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PY - 2019/12
Y1 - 2019/12
N2 - Linkage disequilibrium SCore regression (LDSC) has become a popular approach to estimate confounding bias, heritability, and genetic correlation using only genome-wide association study (GWAS) test statistics. SumHer is a newly introduced alternative with similar aims. We show using theory and simulations that both approaches fail to adequately account for confounding bias, even when the assumed heritability model is correct. Consequently, these methods may estimate heritability poorly if there was an inadequate adjustment for confounding in the original GWAS analysis. We also show that the choice of a summary statistic for use in LDSC or SumHer can have a large impact on resulting inferences. Further, covariate adjustments in the original GWAS can alter the target of heritability estimation, which can be problematic for test statistics from a meta-analysis of GWAS with different covariate adjustments.
AB - Linkage disequilibrium SCore regression (LDSC) has become a popular approach to estimate confounding bias, heritability, and genetic correlation using only genome-wide association study (GWAS) test statistics. SumHer is a newly introduced alternative with similar aims. We show using theory and simulations that both approaches fail to adequately account for confounding bias, even when the assumed heritability model is correct. Consequently, these methods may estimate heritability poorly if there was an inadequate adjustment for confounding in the original GWAS analysis. We also show that the choice of a summary statistic for use in LDSC or SumHer can have a large impact on resulting inferences. Further, covariate adjustments in the original GWAS can alter the target of heritability estimation, which can be problematic for test statistics from a meta-analysis of GWAS with different covariate adjustments.
KW - GWAS
KW - heritability estimation
KW - misspecified models
U2 - 10.1002/gepi.22259
DO - 10.1002/gepi.22259
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 31541496
VL - 43
SP - 930
EP - 940
JO - Genetic Epidemiology
JF - Genetic Epidemiology
SN - 0741-0395
IS - 8
ER -