The pattern of pair-wise LD between SNPs was measured by the standardized disequilibrium value (D') as implemented in Haploview v4.1 (Barrett et al., 2005). In order to capture the blocks that consist of the specific SNPs indicated in the single SNP association tests, LD haplotype blocks were identified using the Gabriel's method (Gabriel et al., 2002). When no block was identified by this method, the alternative solid spine of LD definition (Barrett et al., 2005) was employed.
