A note on the use of the generalized odds ratio in meta-analysis of association studies involving bi- and tri-allelic polymorphisms

Table 3 Parameters and simulated scenarios (trait prevalence = 10%).

True underlying genetic model	OR	f	τ²	N per study	Genetic model of analysis
Null	1.0		0 (homogeneity)		GOR
		0.10			LAT
		0.33	0.025 (mild heterogeneity)	500-1000	Per-allele
		0.40			Dominant
Dominant Multiplicative Recessive Over-dominant	1.3 (modest effect)		0.05 (strong heterogeneity)		Recessive

OR, true underlying odds ratio. f, allelic frequency for the risk allele. τ², between-study variance. N, number of participants per study. GOR, generalized odds ratio. LAT, log-additive trend. The size for each study was randomly sampled from a uniform distribution on the interval [500-1000] and split equally into cases and controls (i.e. case to control ratio = 1).

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