Sibling correlations and segregation analysis of age-related maculopathy: the Beaver Dam Eye Study

Abstract

Sibling correlations were evaluated and segregation analysis was performed on age-dependent maculopathy scores of the right and left eyes of individuals from 564 families in the Beaver Dam Eye study. There is evidence 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 transmission of a major effect cannot be rejected under the tau AB free model, but is rejected under the tau's free model. The hypothesis of a random environmental major effect is rejected. Similar major gene parameter 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 maculopathy scores. A single major gene can account for about 89% and 97% of this variability due to a major effect, or for about 55% and 57% of the total variability, in the right and left eyes, respectively.