Abstract
Participation in a genetic study likely has a genetic component. Identifying such component is difficult as we cannot compare genetic information of participants with non-participants directly, the latter being unavailable. Here, we show that alleles that are more common in participants than non-participants would be further enriched in genetic segments shared by two related participants. Genome-wide analysis was performed by comparing allele frequencies in shared and not-shared genetic segments of first-degree relative pairs of the UK Biobank. A polygenic score constructed from that analysis, in non-overlapping samples, is associated with educational attainment (P = 2.1 × 10−52), body mass index (P = 1.5 × 10−19), and participation in a dietary study (P = 6.9 × 10−21). Further analysis shows that inclination to participate is a behavioural trait in its own right, and not simply a consequence of other established phenotypes. Understanding the basis of this trait is important for data analyses and the design of future surveys, genetic or otherwise.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
