Inferring Causal Relationships Between Risk Factors and Outcomes from Genome-Wide Association Study Data.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Burgess S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6481551 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Inferring Causal Relationships Between Risk Factors and Outcomes from Genome-Wide Association Study Data.
Burgess Stephen S Foley Christopher N CN Zuber Verena V
Annual review of genomics and human genetics 20180425
An observational correlation between a suspected risk factor and an outcome does not necessarily imply that interventions on levels of the risk factor will have a causal impact on the outcome (correlation is not causation). If genetic variants associated with the risk factor are also associated with the outcome, then this increases the plausibility that the risk factor is a causal determinant of the outcome. However, if the genetic variants in the analysis do not have a specific biological link ...[more]
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