Haplin power analysis: a software module for power and sample size calculations in genetic association analyses of family triads and unrelated controls

The power calculations in Haplin can be performed for a wide range of genetic effects and etiologic scenarios, including child (offspring) effects, parent-of-origin effects and effects of maternal genes, as well as for gene-environment interactions. A variety of child-parent configurations can be used, including (but not limited to) the standard case-control design, case-parent triads, and case-parent triads in combination with unrelated control-parent triads. A power analysis demonstrates the possible scope of a study and is therefore useful for study planning as well as for the interpretation of findings in the final analyses. No prior experience with R is needed, and researchers can easily apply the Haplin functions using arguments and parameter values relevant to their own genetic data in MoBa or Harvest.