Testing Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium using family data from complex surveys

A POWERFUL METHOD FOR INCLUDING GENOTYPE UNCERTAINTY IN TESTS OF HARDY-WEINBERG EQUILIBRIUM

The use of posterior probabilities to summarize genotype uncertainty is pervasive across genotype, sequencing and imputation platforms. Prior work in many contexts has shown the utility of incorporating genotype uncertainty (posterior probabilities) in downstream statistical tests. Typical approaches to incorporating genotype uncertainty when testing Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium tend to lack calibration in the type I error rate, especially as genotype uncertainty increases. We propose a new approach in the spirit of genomic control that properly calibrates the type I error rate, while yielding improved power to detect deviations from Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium. We demonstrate the improved performance of our method on both simulated and real genotypes.

A composite likelihood approach in testing for Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium using family-based genetic survey data

In population-based household surveys, for example, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, households are often sampled by stratified multistage cluster sampling, and multiple individuals related by blood are often sampled within households. Therefore, genetic data collected from these population-based household surveys, called National Genetic Household Surveys, can be correlated because of two levels of correlation. One level of correlation is caused by the multistage geographical cluster sampling and the other is caused by biological inheritance among participants within the same sampled family. In this paper, we develop an efficient Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) test utilizing pairwise composite likelihood methods that incorporate the sample weighting effect induced by the differential selection probabilities in complex sample designs, as well as the two-level clustering (correlation) effects described above. Monte Carlo simulation studies show that the proposed HWE test maintains the nominal levels, and is more powerful than existing methods (Li et al. 2011) under various (non)informative sample designs that depend on genotypes (explicitly or implicitly), family relationships or both, especially when within-household sampling depends on the genotypes. The developed tests are further evaluated using simulated genetic data based on the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Survey. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A comparison of tests for Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium in national genetic household surveys

Background

This study is motivated by National Household Surveys that collect genetic data, in which complex samples (e.g. stratified multistage cluster sample), partially from the same family, are selected. In addition to the differential selection probabilities of selecting households and persons within the sampled households, there are two levels of correlations of the collected genetic data in National Genetic Household Surveys (NGHS). The first level of correlation is induced by the hierarchical geographic clustered sampling of households and the second level of correlation is induced by biological inheritances from individuals sampled in the same household.

Results

To test for Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) in NGHS, two test statistics, the CCS method [1] and the QS method [2], appear to be the only existing methods that take account of both correlations. In this paper, I evaluate both methods in terms of the test size and power under a variety of complex designs with different weighting schemes and varying magnitudes of the two correlation effects. Both methods are applied to a real data example from the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey with simulated genotype data.

Conclusions

The QS method maintains the nominal size well and consistently achieves higher power than the CCS method in testing HWE under a variety of sample designs, and therefore is recommended for testing HWE of genetic survey data with complex designs.

Testing for Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium in national household surveys that collect family-based genetic data

In population-based household surveys, for example, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), blood-related individuals are often sampled from the same household. Therefore, genetic data collected from national household surveys are often correlated due to two levels of clustering (correlation) with one induced by the multistage geographical cluster sampling, and the other induced by biological inheritance among multiple participants within the same sampled household. In this paper, we develop efficient statistical methods that consider the weighting effect induced by the differential selection probabilities in complex sample designs, as well as the clustering (correlation) effects described above. We examine and compare the magnitude of each level of clustering effects under different scenarios and identify the scenario under which the clustering effect induced by one level dominates the other. The proposed method is evaluated via Monte Carlo simulation studies and illustrated using the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Survey (HHANES) with simulated genotype data.