A review of the 'Statistical Analysis for Genetic Epidemiology' (S.A.G.E.) software package.

The 'Statistical Analysis for Genetic Epidemiology' (S.A.G.E.) software package is an integrated, comprehensive package of computer programs designed to perform many of the different analyses required in the study of genetic epidemiology. It offers a graphical user interface for most platforms and, unlike many programs available in the public domain, is flexible in both receiving many types of input files and in allowing the user to choose among output files. All of the programs accept the same data files and together provide the means to perform familial correlation, segregation, linkage and association analyses, as well as many of the ancillary analyses that help achieve these goals. Many, but not all, of the same or similar analyses can be performed (with more difficulty) using publicly available freeware. The primary limitations of S.A.G.E. at present are the lack of software for estimating haplotypes or for identifying probable double recombinants in linkage analysis. S.A.G.E. is continually being extended and upgraded, however, with automatic downloading of the latest version always available to users.