Table 1.

Advantages of current asthma pharmacogenetic study design

Technique	Advantage	How implemented
Screening algorithm	Helps address multiple comparisons issues	Screen using non-informative families before performing FBAT analysis
Family-based association test	Population stratification is not an issue	FBAT testing methodology using probands and parents
Principal components analysis	Increases statistical power	Each longitudinal outcome measure contributes to the observations
Replication population testing	Helps to assure generalizability and address false positives	Two population-based replication studies for each gene identified via screening, before confirmation
Functional studies	Extends association studies into the functional domain	Use of gene expression, in vitro, and animal models to test specific candidate genes and variants