Mediation Analysis

Overview

Teaching: 10 min
Exercises: 2 min

Questions

• What is mediation analysis?

• How is mediation analysis used in genetics and genomics?

• How do I explore causal relations with mediation analysis?

Objectives

• Describe mediation analysis as applied in genetics and genomics.

Challenge:

Solution

Key Points

• Mediation analysis investigates an intermediary between an independent variable and its effect on a dependent variable.

• Mediation analysis is used in high-throughput genomics studies to identify molecular phenotypes, such as gene expression or methylation traits, that mediate the effect of genetic variation on disease phenotypes or other outcomes of interest.