ForestPMPlot: A Flexible Tool for Visualizing Heterogeneity Between Studies in Meta-analysis

G3 (Bethesda). 2016 Jul 7;6(7):1793-8. doi: 10.1534/g3.116.029439.

Abstract

Meta-analysis has become a popular tool for genetic association studies to combine different genetic studies. A key challenge in meta-analysis is heterogeneity, or the differences in effect sizes between studies. Heterogeneity complicates the interpretation of meta-analyses. In this paper, we describe ForestPMPlot, a flexible visualization tool for analyzing studies included in a meta-analysis. The main feature of the tool is visualizing the differences in the effect sizes of the studies to understand why the studies exhibit heterogeneity for a particular phenotype and locus pair under different conditions. We show the application of this tool to interpret a meta-analysis of 17 mouse studies, and to interpret a multi-tissue eQTL study.

Keywords: GWAS; genetic association studies; heterogeneity; meta-analysis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Computer Graphics
  • Genetic Heterogeneity*
  • Humans
  • Meta-Analysis as Topic*
  • Mice
  • Models, Statistical*
  • Phenotype
  • Quantitative Trait Loci*
  • Sample Size
  • Selection Bias
  • Software*