Public health implications of the use of standard epidemiologic measures: The PhenX Toolkit

The potential for genome-wide association studies to relate phenotypes to specific genetic variation is greatly increased when data can be combined or compared across multiple studies. PhenX (consensus measures for Phenotypes and eXposures) seeks to facilitate cross-study analysis by providing a toolkit of common measures for researchers to use when designing genomics-based or epidemiologic studies.

The PhenX Toolkit provides 15 high-priority, well-established measures for each of 21 research domains. These measures are selected using a consensus process that relies on the deliberation of domain specific Working Groups and includes input from the broader scientific community. Investigators can visit the toolkit to add measures that are outside their primary research focus, thus broadening their study. Investigators can also review and select PhenX measures in their primary research area – to aid comparability with other studies. Both activities have the potential to greatly increase the overall impact of the study, due to increased opportunities for future cross-study analysis. Broad acceptance and use of PhenX measures should facilitate identification of genes associated with common diseases, as well as gene-gene and gene-environment interactions. This talk will include a discussion of the benefits of using standard measures in epidemiologic studies and demonstrate how to use the PhenX Toolkit.

The PhenX Toolkit can be found at: https://www.phenxtoolkit.org