Skip Navigation



American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access published online on January 18, 2006
American Journal of Epidemiology, doi:10.1093/aje/kwj057
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
163/5/486    most recent
kwj057v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Burnett, M. S.
Right arrow Articles by Maraganore, D. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Burnett, M. S.
Right arrow Articles by Maraganore, D. M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

American Journal of Epidemiology Copyright © 2006 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health All rights reserved; printed in U.S.A.
Received February 3, 2005
Accepted October 13, 2005

PRACTICE OF EPIDEMIOLOGY

Reliability of Self-reported Ancestry among Siblings: Implications for Genetic Association Studies

Melinda S. Burnett 1, Kari J. Strain 2, Timothy G. Lesnick 2, Mariza de Andrade 2, Walter A. Rocca 3, and Demetrius M. Maraganore 1 *

1 Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN
2 Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN
3 Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN; Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Demetrius M. Maraganore, E-mail: dmaraganore{at}mayo.edu


  Abstract

This study investigated the reliability of self-reported ancestry by comparing the interview responses of probands and their siblings. A total of 546 sibling pairs were ascertained in a family-based study of susceptibility genes for Parkinson's disease and asked to identify maternal and paternal countries of origin. Probands were recruited prospectively from the Department of Neurology of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, from June 1, 1996, through May 31, 2005. Probands resided within Minnesota or one of the four surrounding states (Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota). Only 49 percent of these sibling pairs, primarily Caucasian, agreed completely on the countries of origin of both parents. The agreement increased to 68 percent when named countries were postcoded into six population genetic clusters (as previously defined by microsatellite markers). Self-reported ancestry may not be a reliable method to reduce the possible impact of population stratification in genetic association studies of outbred populations, such as in the United States.

Keywords: alleles; case-control studies; ethnic groups; population groups; reproducibility of results.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev.Home page
R. Yaeger, A. Avila-Bront, K. Abdul, P. C. Nolan, V. R. Grann, M. G. Birchette, S. Choudhry, E. G. Burchard, K. B. Beckman, P. Gorroochurn, et al.
Comparing Genetic Ancestry and Self-Described Race in African Americans Born in the United States and in Africa
Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., June 1, 2008; 17(6): 1329 - 1338.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev.Home page
J. S. Barnholtz-Sloan, B. McEvoy, M. D. Shriver, and T. R. Rebbeck
Ancestry Estimation and Correction for Population Stratification in Molecular Epidemiologic Association Studies
Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., March 1, 2008; 17(3): 471 - 477.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am J EpidemiolHome page
L. Smith, M. Watson, S. Gates, D. Ball, and D. Foxcroft
Meta-Analysis of the Association of the Taq1A Polymorphism with the Risk of Alcohol Dependency: A HuGE Gene-Disease Association Review
Am. J. Epidemiol., January 15, 2008; 167(2): 125 - 138.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 JAMAHome page
M. Bochud, A. Chiolero, and F. Paccaud
Validity of Reported Genetic Risk Factors for Acute Coronary Syndrome
JAMA, October 17, 2007; 298(15): 1757 - 1758.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Hum Mol GenetHome page
D. Keen-Kim, C. A. Mathews, V. I. Reus, T. L. Lowe, L. D. Herrera, C. L. Budman, V. Gross-Tsur, A. E. Pulver, R. D. Bruun, G. Erenberg, et al.
Overrepresentation of rare variants in a specific ethnic group may confuse interpretation of association analyses
Hum. Mol. Genet., November 15, 2006; 15(22): 3324 - 3328.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.