Stratification-score matching improves correction for confounding by population stratification in case-control association studies.

ABSTRACT: Proper control of confounding due to population stratification is crucial for valid analysis of case-control association studies. Fine matching of cases and controls based on genetic ancestry is an increasingly popular strategy to correct for such confounding, both in genome-wide association studies (GWASs) as well as studies that employ next-generation sequencing, where matching can be used when selecting a subset of participants from a GWAS for rare-variant analysis. Existing matching methods match on measures of genetic ancestry that combine multiple components of ancestry into a scalar quantity. However, we show that including nonconfounding ancestry components in a matching criterion can lead to inaccurate matches, and hence to an improper control of confounding. To resolve this issue

SUBMITTER: Epstein MP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3671578 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature