MaasLin2: Heatmap Vs Significance

@arti.tandon - first of all, the heatmap and the table of significant associations should correspond to each other as the heatmap is a subset of all significant associations in the analysis, as @Kelsey_Thompson pointed out. It’s extremely unusual to see an association in the heatmap but not in the table of significant associations (do let us know if you see this unusual behavior by means of a reproducible example so that we can test it on our end).

Regarding interpretation of your results, when you have multiple covariates in the model (e.g. Microbe Abundance ~ X + Y + Z), the interpretation goes as follows (assuming the corresponding coefficient for Z is significant following FDR correction):

‘After adjusting for X and Y, Z is positively or negatively associated (depending on the sign of the coefficient) with the outcome (i.e. feature abundance).’

I hope this is clear.

Best,
Himel

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