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American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 132, No. 6: 1171-1175
Copyright © 1990 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health

research-article

A PROBLEM IN IDENTIFYiNG RISK FACTORS FOR DISEASE USING SURROGATE EXPOSURE VARIABLES THAT ARE UNDER GENETIC CONTROL

ALISA M. GOLDSTEIN1,, RONI T. FALK2 and SUSAN E. HODGE3

1Family Studies Section, Environmental Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD
2Population Studies Section, Environmental Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD
3Department of Psychiatry and Bioatatistics, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University New York, NY

Reprint requests to Dr. Alisa M. Goldstein, Family Studies Section/EEB, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Executive Plaza North, Room 439, Bethesda, MD 20892

The use of a surrogate exposure variable to represent a complex of genetic and/or nongenetic factors is commonplace in epidemiologic studies. The authors present an hypothetical example in which a surrogate exposure results from underlying unknown genetic and nongenetic factors, yet only the genetic component predisposes to disease. The results demonstrate how risk may be incorrectly attributed to the nongenetic component of exposure and suggest a possible explanation for the identification of a risk factor in one case-control study in one population, but not in another study of the same disease conducted in a different population.

case-control studies; genetics; risk factors


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