Participation bias in the UK Biobank distorts genetic associations and downstream analyses
University College London · University of Lausanne · +4 more institutions
Abstract
Abstract While volunteer-based studies such as the UK Biobank have become the cornerstone of genetic epidemiology, the participating individuals are rarely representative of their target population. To evaluate the impact of selective participation, here we derived UK Biobank participation probabilities on the basis of 14 variables harmonized across the UK Biobank and a representative sample. We then conducted weighted genome-wide association analyses on 19 traits. Comparing the output from weighted genome-wide association analyses ( n effective = 94,643 to 102,215) with that from standard genome-wide association analyses ( n = 263,464 to 283,749), we found that increasing representativeness led to changes in…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 112.27
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 46
Authors
6Topics & keywords
- Biobank
- Downstream (manufacturing)
- Environmental health
- Biology
- Psychology
- Genetics
- Medicine
- Business
- Good health and well-being
Funding
- NSNational Science FoundationAward: 310030
- WWellcomeAward: 218641/Z/19/Z
- AUAarhus Universitet
- WTWellcome TrustAward: 218641/Z/19/Z
- ECEuropean CommissionAward: 863981
- SNSchweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen ForschungAwards: 189147, #310030-189147, 310030-189147, 310030
- AUAarhus Universitets ForskningsfondAwards: 7025- 00094B, 7025-00094B
- LLundbeckfonden
- UDUniversité de Lausanne
- CHCentre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois
- HLH. Lundbeck A/S
- H2Horizon 2020 Framework ProgrammeAward: 863981