Estimating the probability for major gene Alzheimer disease
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (United States) Boston Univ. School of Public Health, Boston, MA (United States)
- Boston Univ. of Public Health, Boston, MA (United States)
Alzheimer disease (AD) is a neuropsychiatric illness caused by multiple etiologies. Prediction of whether AD is genetically based in a given family is problematic because of censoring bias among unaffected relatives as a consequence of the late onset of the disorder, diagnostic uncertainties, heterogeneity, and limited information in a single family. The authors have developed a method based on Bayesian probability to compute values for a continuous variable that ranks AD families as having a major gene form of AD (MGAD). In addition, they have compared the Bayesian method with a maximum-likelihood approach. These methods incorporate sex- and age-adjusted risk estimates and allow for phenocopies and familial clustering of age on onset. Agreement is high between the two approaches for ranking families as MGAD (Spearman rank [r] = .92). When either method is used, the numerical outcomes are sensitive to assumptions of the gene frequency and cumulative incidence of the disease in the population. Consequently, risk estimates should be used cautiously for counseling purposes; however, there are numerous valid applications of these procedures in genetic and epidemiological studies. 41 refs., 4 figs., 3 tabs.
- OSTI ID:
- 7076942
- Journal Information:
- American Journal of Human Genetics; (United States), Vol. 54:2; ISSN 0002-9297
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Association studies in late onset sporadic Alzheimer`s disease
Characteristics of familial aggregation in early-onset Alzheimer`s disease: Evidence of subgroups