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Updated: Aug 26, 2026

Sample Preparation to Bioinformatics Analysis of DNA Methylation: Association Strategy for Obesity and Related Trait Studies
Published on: May 6, 2022
Power of maximum HLOD tests to detect linkage to obesity genes
Yun Joo Yoo1, Yanling Huo, Yuming Ning
1Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York, USA. yjyoo@ams.sunysb.edu
Background:
We investigate the power of heterogeneity LOD test to detect linkage when a trait is determined by several major genes using Genetic Analysis Workshop 13 simulated data. We consider three traits, two of which are disease-causing traits: 1) the rate of change in body mass index (BMI); and 2) the maximum BMI; and 3) the disease itself (hypertension). Of interest is the power of "HLOD2", the maximum heterogeneity LOD obtained upon maximizing over the two genetic models.
Results:
Using a trait phenotype Obesity Slope, we observe that the power to detect the two markers closest to the two genes (S1, S2) at the 0.05 level using HLOD2 is 13% and 10%. The power of HLOD2 for Max BMI phenotype is 12% and 9%. The corresponding values for the Hypertension phenotype are 8% and 6%.
Conclusion:
The power to detect linkage to the slope genes is quite low. But the power using disease-related traits as a phenotype is greater than the power using the disease (hypertension) phenotype.
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