Im. Heiba et al., SIBLING CORRELATIONS AND SEGREGATION ANALYSIS OF AGE-RELATED MACULOPATHY - THE BEAVER DAM EYE STUDY, Genetic epidemiology, 11(1), 1994, pp. 51-67
Sibling correlations were evaluated and segregation analysis was perfo
rmed on age-dependent maculopathy scores of the right and left eyes of
individuals from 564 families in the Beaver Dam Eye study. There is e
vidence of significant sibling correlations. The data fit a mixture of
two normal distributions, especially after undergoing the Box and Cox
power transformation. In each eye, the hypothesis of mendelian transm
ission of a major effect cannot be rejected under the tau(AB) free mod
el, but is rejected under the tau's free model. The hypothesis of a ra
ndom environmental major effect is rejected. Similar major gene parame
ter estimates are found for both eyes. The results are consistent with
a major effect accounting for 62% and 59%, in the right and left eyes
, respectively, of the determination of age-related maculepathy scores
. A single major gene can account for about 89% and 97% of this variab
ility due to a major effect, or for about 55% and 57% of the total var
iability, in the right and left eyes, respectively. (C) 1994 Wiley-Lis
s, Inc.