diff --git a/src/stats/sumstats.rs b/src/stats/sumstats.rs
index d376d94..0208e50 100644
--- a/src/stats/sumstats.rs
+++ b/src/stats/sumstats.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+use anyhow::Context;
 use statrs::distribution::ContinuousCDF;
 use statrs::distribution::StudentsT;
 
@@ -9,7 +10,12 @@ pub fn compute_neg_log_pvalue(t_statistic: f32, degrees_of_freedom: i32) -> f32
         f if f.is_nan() => f32::NAN,
         f if f.is_infinite() => f32::INFINITY,
         _ => {
-            let t_dist = StudentsT::new(0.0, 1.0, dof).unwrap();
+            if dof <= 1.0 {
+                return f32::NAN;
+            }
+            let t_dist = StudentsT::new(0.0, 1.0, dof)
+                .with_context(|| format!("Failed to compute t-statistic for dof {}", dof))
+                .unwrap();
             let p = 2.0 * t_dist.cdf(-t.abs());
             -p.log10() as f32
         }