STrengthening the REporting of Genetic Association Studies (STREGA): An Extension of the STROBE Statement

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 into 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, modeling 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 issues of data volume 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.

A review on experimental and clinical genetic associations studies on fear conditioning, extinction and cognitive-behavioral treatment

“…We would also like to draw the reader's attention to the recommendations of the ‘STrengthening the REporting of Genetic Association studies (STREGA) initiative'. 94 …”

Association between the APOA2 promoter polymorphism and body weight in Mediterranean and Asian populations: replication of a gene–saturated fat interaction

“…Current recommendations to increase the consistency of gene-disease associations underline the importance of replication in independent samples (33). Our results, supporting the previous findings on anthropometric variables in the Framingham, the GOLDN and the Boston-Puerto Rican studies (11), contribute to increase the external validity of this gene-diet interaction.…”

Genetic Polymorphisms in Homocysteine Metabolism and Response to Folate Intake: A Comprehensive Strategy to Elucidate Useful Genetic Information

“…16 – 22 The publication of these guidelines in major journals is important because I believe sound epidemiological design should be emphasized in genetic studies. As Thelle has pointed out, the STREGA checklist does not itself provide new ideas, but instead emphasizes the need for systematic and transparent reports using guidelines that, although well known to epidemiologists, may not be widely known among molecular biologists and geneticists.…”