Mega‐analysis methods in ENIGMA: The experience of the generalized anxiety disorder working group

• Published in: Human brain mapping Vol. 43; no. 1; pp. 255 - 277
• Main Authors: Zugman, André, Harrewijn, Anita, Cardinale, Elise M., Zwiebel, Hannah, Freitag, Gabrielle F., Werwath, Katy E., Bas‐Hoogendam, Janna M., Groenewold, Nynke A., Aghajani, Moji, Hilbert, Kevin, Cardoner, Narcis, Porta‐Casteràs, Daniel, Gosnell, Savannah, Salas, Ramiro, Blair, Karina S., Blair, James R., Hammoud, Mira Z., Milad, Mohammed, Burkhouse, Katie, Phan, K. Luan, Schroeder, Heidi K., Strawn, Jeffrey R., Beesdo‐Baum, Katja, Thomopoulos, Sophia I., Grabe, Hans J., Van der Auwera, Sandra, Wittfeld, Katharina, Nielsen, Jared A., Buckner, Randy, Smoller, Jordan W., Mwangi, Benson, Soares, Jair C., Wu, Mon‐Ju, Zunta‐Soares, Giovana B., Jackowski, Andrea P., Pan, Pedro M., Salum, Giovanni A., Assaf, Michal, Diefenbach, Gretchen J., Brambilla, Paolo, Maggioni, Eleonora, Hofmann, David, Straube, Thomas, Andreescu, Carmen, Berta, Rachel, Tamburo, Erica, Price, Rebecca, Manfro, Gisele G., Critchley, Hugo D., Makovac, Elena, Mancini, Matteo, Meeten, Frances, Ottaviani, Cristina, Agosta, Federica, Canu, Elisa, Cividini, Camilla, Filippi, Massimo, Kostić, Milutin, Munjiza, Ana, Filippi, Courtney A., Leibenluft, Ellen, Alberton, Bianca A. V., Balderston, Nicholas L., Ernst, Monique, Grillon, Christian, Mujica‐Parodi, Lilianne R., Nieuwenhuizen, Helena, Fonzo, Gregory A., Paulus, Martin P., Stein, Murray B., Gur, Raquel E., Gur, Ruben C., Kaczkurkin, Antonia N., Larsen, Bart, Satterthwaite, Theodore D., Harper, Jennifer, Myers, Michael, Perino, Michael T., Yu, Qiongru, Sylvester, Chad M., Veltman, Dick J., Lueken, Ulrike, Van der Wee, Nic J. A., Stein, Dan J., Jahanshad, Neda, Thompson, Paul M., Pine, Daniel S., Winkler, Anderson M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.01.2022
• Subjects: Anxiety; Anxiety disorders; Anxiety Disorders - diagnostic imaging; Batch processing; Brain; Cerebral Cortex - diagnostic imaging; Collaboration; Data exchange; Data Interpretation, Statistical; data sharing; Generalized anxiety disorder; Genetics; Humans; Imaging; Magnetic resonance imaging; Medical imaging; mega‐analyses; Meta-analysis; Meta-Analysis as Topic; meta‐analyses; Multicenter Studies as Topic - methods; Multicenter Studies as Topic - standards; Neuroimaging; Neuroimaging - methods; Neuroimaging - standards; Privacy; Quality control; Review; Statistical analysis; Statistical methods; Working groups; mega-analyses; meta-analyses; generalized anxiety disorder; data sharing; neuroimaging
• ISSN: 1065-9471; 1097-0193; 1097-0193
• DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25096

The ENIGMA group on Generalized Anxiety Disorder (ENIGMA‐Anxiety/GAD) is part of a broader effort to investigate anxiety disorders using imaging and genetic data across multiple sites worldwide. The group is actively conducting a mega‐analysis of a large number of brain structural scans. In this process, the group was confronted with many methodological challenges related to study planning and implementation, between‐country transfer of subject‐level data, quality control of a considerable amount of imaging data, and choices related to statistical methods and efficient use of resources. This report summarizes the background information and rationale for the various methodological decisions, as well as the approach taken to implement them. The goal is to document the approach and help guide other research groups working with large brain imaging data sets as they develop their own analytic pipelines for mega‐analyses. This report summarizes the background information and rationale for the various methodological decisions made by the ENIGMA—GAD group. The aim of this work is to help guide other research groups working with large brain imaging data sets.