Haplotype association analysis of combining unrelated case-control and triads with consideration of population stratification

Abstract

Combining data when data are collected under different study designs, such as family trios and unrelated case-control samples, gains more power and is cost-effective than analyzing each data separately. However, a potential concern is population stratification (PS) among unrelated case-control samples and analyses integrating data should address this confounding effect. In this paper, we develop a simpler method, haplotype generalized linear model (HGLM), that tests and estimates haplotype effects on disease risk and allows for modification against PS for combining data. We proposed to combine information across aggregations of haplotype weighted-counts estimated from population case-control data and trio data separately, and to perform subsequent GLM analysis. Furthermore, we present a framework of analysis of variance based on haplotype weighted-counts for detecting whether it is appropriate to combine two data sources, as well as the modified HGLM with clustering methods for addressing PS. We evaluate the statistical properties in terms of the accuracy, false positive rate (FPR) and empirical power using simulated data with regard to various disease risks, sample sizes, multi-SNP haplotypes and the presence of PS. Our simulation results indicate that HGLM performs comparably well with the likelihood-based haplotype association analysis, particularly when the haplotype effects are moderate, but may not perform well when dealing with lengthy haplotypes for small sample sizes. In the presence of PS, the modified HGLM remains valid and has satisfactory nominal level and small bias. Overall, HGLM appears to be successful in combining data and is simple to implement in standard statistical software. © 2014 Wen and Tsai.