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Using genetic data to strengthen causal inference in observational research

Pingault, J-B; O'Reilly, PF; Schoeler, T; Ploubidis, GB; Rijsdijk, F; Dudbridge, F; (2018) Using genetic data to strengthen causal inference in observational research. Nature Reviews Genetics , 19 pp. 566-580. 10.1038/s41576-018-0020-3. Green open access

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Abstract

Causal inference is essential across the biomedical, behavioural and social sciences.By progressing from confounded statistical associations to evidence of causal relationships, causal inference can reveal complex pathways underlying traits and diseases and help to prioritize targets for intervention. Recent progress in genetic epidemiology - including statistical innovation, massive genotyped data sets and novel computational tools for deep data mining - has fostered the intense development of methods exploiting genetic data and relatedness to strengthen causal inference in observational research. In this Review, we describe how such genetically informed methods differ in their rationale, applicability and inherent limitations and outline how they should be integrated in the future to offer a rich causal inference toolbox.

Type: Article
Title: Using genetic data to strengthen causal inference in observational research
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1038/s41576-018-0020-3
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41576-018-0020-3
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Behavioural genetics, Epidemiology, Genetic association study, Genomics, Statistical methods
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10049952
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