The population registry in this dataset has been demonstrated to provide excellent ascertainment of cohorts [ 23] and few records were lost for non linkage.
Under the non-linkage assumption for out-of-state emigration (assuming all non-linkages to any of the multi-source outcome agencies remained in the cohort outcome free) the incidence proportion calculated attenuated from 28.3%w to 25.2%w, an absolute difference of 3.1%.
Combining both sources of non-linkage error, the incidence proportion further attenuated to 18.5%w, an absolute difference of 9.8%.
Multiple target loci from donors are combined in the recipient genome, which include both linkage and non-linkage drags on the carrier chromosomes.
Clearly, out-of-state emigration likely varies from state to state which could lead to differences in the impact of the non-linkage assumption bias.
Using these data we evaluated and quantified the impact of non-linkage misspecification and single source maltreatment ascertainment use on reported maltreatment risk and effect estimates.
Censor at date of death PRAMS births failing to link with any PFD year, or only linking with PFD records with only a non-Alaska address Censor at 3-months from the date of birth Last PFD indicates out-of-state residence or non-linkage with subsequent PFDs Censor at the mid-year of the subsequent calendar year.
Nevertheless, association results for small-effect QTLs from non-linkage regions should be interpreted with caution.
The main reasons for non-linkage were emigration, death, and changes in women's surnames before 1968 [14].
The strong associations we saw between unlinked transmission and reported sexual activity with additional partners and the higher proportion of female seroconverters found to be infected from their stated partners, corroborates our linkage assignments and suggest that behavioral rather than biological factors may underlie the higher rate of non-linkage in our cohort.
If non-linkage occurred at random, as is likely, this would reduce the power of the study, but not bias the results.
