When is a "positive" association truly a "positive" in psychiatric genetics? A commentary based on issues debated at the World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics, Boston, October 12-18, 2005

Abstract

The accumulated literature on candidate gene findings in psychiatric genetics is extensive. There is concern that many of the published findings to data are false positives. At the October 2005 World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics this issue was discussed by a panel of experts. This manuscript describes the panel discussion, its implications for the reporting of association studies of psychiatric disorders and suggestions for when to decide that a positive finding is truly positive.