Model-based and model-free multipoint genome-wide linkage analysis of alcoholism

We analyzed a subset of the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholi sm (COGA) data set as provided by the 11(th) Genetic Analysis Workshop (GAW 11). Linkage analyses were performed using each of the diagnostic criteria for alcoholism included in the data: the COGA criteria (DSM-III-R plus the Feighner criteria) and the narrower World Hearth Organization diagnosis ICD -10 criteria. Formal segregation analysis using these data was not attempte d because only a subset of all the originally ascertained families was made available. Nevertheless, an attempt was made to estimate the best one-locu s two-allele genetic model for these data. Model-based multipoint linkage a nalysis was performed using the results of our trait model fitting, and mod el-free multipoint linkage analysis was performed with an improved version of the Haseman and Elston linkage method for sib pairs. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss , Inc.