Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Multiple Testing Correction With Repeated Correlated Outcomes: Applications To Epigenetics, Katie Leap

Masters Theses

Epigenetic changes (specifically DNA methylation) have been associated with adverse health outcomes; however, unlike genetic markers that are fixed over the lifetime of an individual, methylation can change. Given that there are a large number of methylation sites, measuring them repeatedly introduces multiple testing problems beyond those that exist in a static genetic context. Using simulations of epigenetic data, we considered different methods of controlling the false discovery rate. We considered several underlying associations between an exposure and methylation over time.

We found that testing each site with a linear mixed effects model and then controlling the false discovery rate …