A structural approach to the familial coaggregation of disorders.

@article{citeulike:2927980, abstract = {The demonstration that 2 disorders coaggregate in families is often the first step in the exploration of genetic factors common to the 2 disorders. Previous methods of analyzing familial coaggregation have used either (1) a typical measure of association (eg, the odds ratio) between a disorder in an individual and another disorder in family members, or (2) a linear structural equation model (SEM). The association method accommodates case-control sampling of families, but may not assess the causal effect of interest because it is not based on an underlying causal model. The SEM method is based on a causal model, but cannot easily accommodate case-control sampling or direct effects of 1 disorder on the other within individuals. We develop a new method of analyzing coaggregation based on directed acyclic graphs. Because this method is a generalization of structural equation models and uses measures of association that accommodate case-control sampling and direct effects, it combines the strengths of both previous methods. In the absence of direct effects between disorders, our approach provides a valid estimate of the causal coaggregation effect. In the presence of direct effects, our approach provides an upper-bound estimate and (assuming additive linear effects of latent familial and nonfamilial factors) a lower-bound estimate of the causal coaggregation effect. For illustration, we applied our method to a family study of binge eating disorder and bipolar disorder.}, address = {Biological Psychiatry Laboratory, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02478, USA. jhudson@mclean.harvard.edu}, author = {Hudson, J. I. and Javaras, K. N. and Laird, N. M. and VanderWeele, T. J. and Pope, H. G. and Hern\'{a}n, M. A. }, citeulike-article-id = {2927980}, doi = {10.1097/EDE.0b013e31816a9de7}, issn = {1044-3983}, journal = {Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.)}, keywords = {genetics, sem}, month = {May}, number = {3}, pages = {431--439}, posted-at = {2008-06-26 04:32:55}, priority = {2}, title = {A structural approach to the familial coaggregation of disorders.}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/EDE.0b013e31816a9de7}, volume = {19}, year = {2008} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2927980 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2927980 TI - A structural approach to the familial coaggregation of disorders. JF - Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) VL - 19 IS - 3 SP - 431 EP - 439 AD - Biological Psychiatry Laboratory, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02478, USA. jhudson@mclean.harvard.edu SN - 1044-3983 N2 - The demonstration that 2 disorders coaggregate in families is often the first step in the exploration of genetic factors common to the 2 disorders. Previous methods of analyzing familial coaggregation have used either (1) a typical measure of association (eg, the odds ratio) between a disorder in an individual and another disorder in family members, or (2) a linear structural equation model (SEM). The association method accommodates case-control sampling of families, but may not assess the causal effect of interest because it is not based on an underlying causal model. The SEM method is based on a causal model, but cannot easily accommodate case-control sampling or direct effects of 1 disorder on the other within individuals. We develop a new method of analyzing coaggregation based on directed acyclic graphs. Because this method is a generalization of structural equation models and uses measures of association that accommodate case-control sampling and direct effects, it combines the strengths of both previous methods. In the absence of direct effects between disorders, our approach provides a valid estimate of the causal coaggregation effect. In the presence of direct effects, our approach provides an upper-bound estimate and (assuming additive linear effects of latent familial and nonfamilial factors) a lower-bound estimate of the causal coaggregation effect. For illustration, we applied our method to a family study of binge eating disorder and bipolar disorder. KW - genetics KW - sem AU - Hudson, JI AU - Javaras, KN AU - Laird, NM AU - VanderWeele, TJ AU - Pope, HG AU - Hernán, MA PY - 2008/05// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/EDE.0b013e31816a9de7 ER -