Harmonization of resting-state functional MRI data across multiple imaging sites via the separation of site differences into sampling bias and measurement bias

• Published in: PLoS biology Vol. 17; no. 4; p. e3000042
• Main Authors: Yamashita, Ayumu, Yahata, Noriaki, Itahashi, Takashi, Lisi, Giuseppe, Yamada, Takashi, Ichikawa, Naho, Takamura, Masahiro, Yoshihara, Yujiro, Kunimatsu, Akira, Okada, Naohiro, Yamagata, Hirotaka, Matsuo, Koji, Hashimoto, Ryuichiro, Okada, Go, Sakai, Yuki, Morimoto, Jun, Narumoto, Jin, Shimada, Yasuhiro, Kasai, Kiyoto, Kato, Nobumasa, Takahashi, Hidehiko, Okamoto, Yasumasa, Tanaka, Saori C., Kawato, Mitsuo, Yamashita, Okito, Imamizu, Hiroshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 18.04.2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adult; Autism; Bias; Biological sampling; Biology and Life Sciences; Brain - physiopathology; Brain Mapping - methods; Brain research; Communication research; Computer and Information Sciences; Data acquisition; Data Analysis; Databases, Factual; Datasets; Developmental disabilities; Engineering and Technology; Female; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Humans; Image acquisition; Information communication; Laboratories; Magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Male; Medical imaging; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mental disorders; Meta; Methods; Middle Aged; Neural networks; Neural Pathways - physiopathology; Neuroimaging; Neuroimaging - methods; Neurology; Neurosciences; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Psychiatry; Reproducibility of Results; Research and Analysis Methods; Sampling; Schizophrenia; Selection Bias; Signal-To-Noise Ratio; Social Sciences; Studies; Supervision; Telephone companies; University graduates; Japan
• ISSN: 1545-7885; 1544-9173; 1545-7885
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000042

When collecting large amounts of neuroimaging data associated with psychiatric disorders, images must be acquired from multiple sites because of the limited capacity of a single site. However, site differences represent a barrier when acquiring multisite neuroimaging data. We utilized a traveling-subject dataset in conjunction with a multisite, multidisorder dataset to demonstrate that site differences are composed of biological sampling bias and engineering measurement bias. The effects on resting-state functional MRI connectivity based on pairwise correlations because of both bias types were greater than or equal to psychiatric disorder differences. Furthermore, our findings indicated that each site can sample only from a subpopulation of participants. This result suggests that it is essential to collect large amounts of neuroimaging data from as many sites as possible to appropriately estimate the distribution of the grand population. Finally, we developed a novel harmonization method that removed only the measurement bias by using a traveling-subject dataset and achieved the reduction of the measurement bias by 29% and improvement of the signal-to-noise ratios by 40%. Our results provide fundamental knowledge regarding site effects, which is important for future research using multisite, multidisorder resting-state functional MRI data.