Improved selection of participants in genetic longevity studies: family scores revisited.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although human longevity tends to cluster within families, genetic studies on longevity have had limited success in identifying longevity loci. One of the main causes of this limited success is the selection of participants. Studies generally include sporadically long-lived individuals, i.e. individuals with the longevity phenotype but without a genetic predisposition for longevity. The inclusion of these individuals causes phenotype heterogeneity which results in power reduction and bias. A way to avoid sporadically long-lived individuals and reduce sample heterogeneity is to include family history of longevity as selection criterion using a longevity family score. A main challenge when developing family scores are the large differences in family size, because of real d

SUBMITTER: Rodriguez-Girondo M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7789146 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature