Genetic association tests when a nuisance parameter is not identifiable under no association

Abstract

Some genetic association tests include an unidentifiable nuisance parameter under the null hypothesis of no association. When the mode of inheritance (MOI) is not specified in a case-control design, the Cochran-Armitage (CA) trend test contains an unidentifiable nuisance parameter. The transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) in a family-based association study that includes the unaffected also contains an unidentifiable nuisance parameter. The hypothesis tests that include an unidentifiable nuisance parameter are typically performed by taking a supremum of the C A tests or TDT over reasonable values of the parameter. The p-values of the supremum test statistics cannot be obtained by a normal or chi-square distribution. A common method is to use a Davies's upper bound of the p-value instead of an exact asymptotic p-value. In this paper, we provide a unified sine-cosine process expression of the CA trend test that does not specify the MOI and the TDT that includes the unaffected. We also present a closed form expression of the exact asymptotic formulas to calculate the p-values of the supremum tests when the score function can be written as a linear form in an unidentifiable parameter. We illustrate how to use the derived formulas using a pharmacogenetics case-control dataset and an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder family-based example.