STrengthening the REporting of Genetic Association Studies (STREGA)—an extension of the STROBE statement

TLDR

Rapidly evolving evidence on genetic associations must be understood to advance genomics and integrate into medicine and public health, yet inadequate reporting hampers synthesis. STREGA seeks to enhance transparency of reporting in genetic association studies without prescribing study design. STREGA extends the STROBE checklist by adding items on population stratification, genotyping errors, haplotype modelling, Hardy‑Weinberg equilibrium, replication, participant selection, gene and variant rationale, treatment effects, statistical methods, relatedness, descriptive and outcome data, and data volume. Published in Genetics & Epidemiology, 2009, vol.

Abstract

Abstract Making sense of rapidly evolving evidence on genetic associations is crucial to making genuine advances in human genomics and the eventual integration of this information in the practice of medicine and public health. Assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of this evidence, and hence the ability to synthesize it, has been limited by inadequate reporting of results. The STrengthening the REporting of Genetic Association studies (STREGA) initiative builds on the STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) Statement and provides additions to 12 of the 22 items on the STROBE checklist. The additions concern population stratification, genotyping errors, modelling haplotype variation, Hardy‐Weinberg equilibrium, replication, selection of participants, rationale for choice of genes and variants, treatment effects in studying quantitative traits, statistical methods, relatedness, reporting of descriptive and outcome data, and the volume of data issues that are important to consider in genetic association studies. The STREGA recommendations do not prescribe or dictate how a genetic association study should be designed but seek to enhance the transparency of its reporting, regardless of choices made during design, conduct, or analysis. Genet. Epidemiol . 33:581–598, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.