Assortative mating and within-spouse pair comparisons.
Spousal comparisons have been proposed as a design that can both reduce confounding and estimate effects of the shared adulthood environment. However, assortative mating, the process by which individuals select phenotypically (dis)similar mates, could distort associations when comparing spouses. We...
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2021
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oai:doaj.org-article:a59e1fe04d53417ba906c1ee77c348942021-12-02T20:03:16ZAssortative mating and within-spouse pair comparisons.1553-73901553-740410.1371/journal.pgen.1009883https://doaj.org/article/a59e1fe04d53417ba906c1ee77c348942021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1009883https://doaj.org/toc/1553-7390https://doaj.org/toc/1553-7404Spousal comparisons have been proposed as a design that can both reduce confounding and estimate effects of the shared adulthood environment. However, assortative mating, the process by which individuals select phenotypically (dis)similar mates, could distort associations when comparing spouses. We evaluated the use of spousal comparisons, as in the within-spouse pair (WSP) model, for aetiological research such as genetic association studies. We demonstrated that the WSP model can reduce confounding but may be susceptible to collider bias arising from conditioning on assorted spouse pairs. Analyses using UK Biobank spouse pairs found that WSP genetic association estimates were smaller than estimates from random pairs for height, educational attainment, and BMI variants. Within-sibling pair estimates, robust to demographic and parental effects, were also smaller than random pair estimates for height and educational attainment, but not for BMI. WSP models, like other within-family models, may reduce confounding from demographic factors in genetic association estimates, and so could be useful for triangulating evidence across study designs to assess the robustness of findings. However, WSP estimates should be interpreted with caution due to potential collider bias.Laurence J HoweThomas BattramTim T MorrisFernando P HartwigGibran HemaniNeil M DaviesGeorge Davey SmithPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleGeneticsQH426-470ENPLoS Genetics, Vol 17, Iss 11, p e1009883 (2021) |
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Genetics QH426-470 Laurence J Howe Thomas Battram Tim T Morris Fernando P Hartwig Gibran Hemani Neil M Davies George Davey Smith Assortative mating and within-spouse pair comparisons. |
description |
Spousal comparisons have been proposed as a design that can both reduce confounding and estimate effects of the shared adulthood environment. However, assortative mating, the process by which individuals select phenotypically (dis)similar mates, could distort associations when comparing spouses. We evaluated the use of spousal comparisons, as in the within-spouse pair (WSP) model, for aetiological research such as genetic association studies. We demonstrated that the WSP model can reduce confounding but may be susceptible to collider bias arising from conditioning on assorted spouse pairs. Analyses using UK Biobank spouse pairs found that WSP genetic association estimates were smaller than estimates from random pairs for height, educational attainment, and BMI variants. Within-sibling pair estimates, robust to demographic and parental effects, were also smaller than random pair estimates for height and educational attainment, but not for BMI. WSP models, like other within-family models, may reduce confounding from demographic factors in genetic association estimates, and so could be useful for triangulating evidence across study designs to assess the robustness of findings. However, WSP estimates should be interpreted with caution due to potential collider bias. |
format |
article |
author |
Laurence J Howe Thomas Battram Tim T Morris Fernando P Hartwig Gibran Hemani Neil M Davies George Davey Smith |
author_facet |
Laurence J Howe Thomas Battram Tim T Morris Fernando P Hartwig Gibran Hemani Neil M Davies George Davey Smith |
author_sort |
Laurence J Howe |
title |
Assortative mating and within-spouse pair comparisons. |
title_short |
Assortative mating and within-spouse pair comparisons. |
title_full |
Assortative mating and within-spouse pair comparisons. |
title_fullStr |
Assortative mating and within-spouse pair comparisons. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Assortative mating and within-spouse pair comparisons. |
title_sort |
assortative mating and within-spouse pair comparisons. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doaj.org/article/a59e1fe04d53417ba906c1ee77c34894 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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_version_ |
1718375676514402304 |