Power and type I error rate of false discovery rate approaches in genome-wide association studies

In genome-wide genetic studies with a large number of markers, balancing the type I error rate and power is a challenging issue. Recently proposed false discovery rate (FDR) approaches are promising solutions to this problem. Using the 100 simulated datasets of a genome-wide marker map spaced about 3 cM and phenotypes from the Genetic Analysis Workshop 14, we studied the type I error rate and power of Storey's FDR approach, and compared it to the traditional Bonferroni procedure. We confirmed that Storey's FDR approach had a strong control of FDR. We found that Storey's FDR approach only provided weak control of family-wise error rate (FWER). For these simulated datasets, Storey's FDR approach only had slightly higher power than the Bonferroni procedure. In conclusion, Storey's FDR approach is more powerful than the Bonferroni procedure if strong control of FDR or weak control of FWER is desired. Storey's FDR approach has little power advantage over the Bonferroni procedure if there is low linkage disequilibrium among the markers. Further evaluation of the type I error rate and power of the FDR approaches for higher linkage disequilibrium and for haplotype analyses is warranted.