Improving the power of GWAS and avoiding confounding from population stratification with PC-select

Abstract

Using a reduced subset of SNPs in a linear mixed model can improve power for genome-wide association studies, yet this can result in insufficient correction for population stratification. We propose a hybrid approach using principal components that does not inflate statistics in the presence of population stratification and improves power over standard linear mixed models. © 2014 by the Genetics Society of America.