Conditional Likelihood Inference in a Case-Cohort Design: An Application to Haplotype Analysis

Under the setting of a case-cohort design, covariate values are ascertained for a smaller subgroup of the original study cohort which typically is a representative sample from a population. Individuals with a specific event outcome are selected to the second stage study group as cases and an additional subsample is selected to act as a control group. We carry out analysis of such a design using conditional likelihood where the likelihood expression is conditioned on the ascertainment to the second stage study group. Such likelihood expression involves the probability of ascertainment which need to be expressed in terms of the model parameters. We present examples of conditional likelihoods for models for categorical response and time-to-event response. We show that the conditional likelihood inference leads to valid estimation of population parameters. Our application considers joint estimation of haplotype-event association parameters and population haplotype frequencies based on SNP genotype data collected under a case-cohort design.