The CRISMA (Clinical Research, Investigation, and Systems Modeling of Acute Illness) Laboratory, Department of Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. yendes@upmc.edu
There is considerable interest in understanding genetic determinants of critical illness to improve current risk stratification models, provide individualized therapies, and improve our current understanding of disease mechanisms. This review provides a broad overview of genetic nomenclature, different study designs, and problems unique to each of these study designs in critical illnesses. Well designed genetic studies with careful attention to these issues during the planning phase, use of rigorous statistical methods during analysis, and replication of these results in different cohorts will lead to more robust results and improved understanding of genetics of critical care.