Affected sib-pair methods for detecting linkage to dichotomous traits: review of the methodology

Affected sib-pair methods are commonly used to detect linkage to dichotomous traits. This review discusses the principles underlying affected sib-pair tests for linkage and the merits of sib-pair methods relative to traditional lod score methods. Extensions of the methods to include other typed unaffected relatives, extra affected siblings, and multiple marker and disease loci are reviewed together with an investigation of the most effective ways to perform genome scans.