Definition of Phenotype

Mary K. Wojczynski, Hemant K. Tiwari

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

48 Scopus citations

Abstract

Definition of the phenotype is crucial in designing any genetic study, especially an association study, intended to detect the disease predisposing genes. In this chapter, we review the different types of phenotypes such as discrete or continuous and discuss the issues impacting on the phenotype definition related to study design, specifically, the impact of diagnostic error (misclassification) in case-control studies and measurement error in continuous traits. We show that the power of a study depends heavily on the phenotype measured and that misclassification or measurement error can dramatically reduce the power. We also suggest some possible responses to these challenges.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationGenetic Dissection of Complex Traits
EditorsD.C. Rao, Charles Gu
Pages75-105
Number of pages31
DOIs
StatePublished - 2008

Publication series

NameAdvances in Genetics
Volume60
ISSN (Print)0065-2660

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Definition of Phenotype'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this