There are compelling reasons to promote the use of standard (common) measures for genome-wide association studies and other large-scale genomic research efforts.Many common complex diseases share similar underlying risk factors, such as smoking and dietary intake (14), and seemingly disparate studies may collect this information using different methods. Standard phenotypic and environmental exposure measures would facilitate combining data from a wide range of studies.Initial findings from genome-wide association studies need to be replicated in follow-on studies (15). Standard measures would allow for direct comparisons of data collected in studies of different populations to validate initial findings.Increased statistical power could be achieved by combining studies, and this would facilitate the identification and verification of relatively weak associations and of more complex relations, such as gene-gene and gene-environment interactions (16).A readily accessible source of standard measures and associated protocols will help investigators expand studies to include measures that are outside of their primary research focus.
