Deciding whether follow-up studies have replicated findings in a preliminary large-scale omics study

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Nov 18;111(46):16262-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1314814111. Epub 2014 Nov 3.

Abstract

We propose a formal method to declare that findings from a primary study have been replicated in a follow-up study. Our proposal is appropriate for primary studies that involve large-scale searches for rare true positives (i.e., needles in a haystack). Our proposal assigns an r value to each finding; this is the lowest false discovery rate at which the finding can be called replicated. Examples are given and software is available.

Keywords: false discovery rate; genome-wide association studies; metaanalysis; multiple comparisons; r value.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't