Mitigating site effects in covariance for machine learning in neuroimaging data
Abstract
To acquire larger samples for answering complex questions in neuroscience, researchers have increasingly turned to multi‐site neuroimaging studies. However, these studies are hindered by differences in images acquired across multiple sites. These effects have been shown to bias comparison between sites, mask biologically meaningful associations, and even introduce spurious associations. To address this, the field has focused on harmonizing data by removing site‐related effects in the mean and variance of measurements. Contemporaneously with the increase in popularity of multi‐center imaging, the use of machine learning (ML) in neuroimaging has also become commonplace. These approaches have been shown to provide improved sensitivity, specificity, and power due to their modeling the joint relationship across measurements in the brain. In this work, we demonstrate that methods for removing site effects in mean and variance may not be sufficient for ML. This stems from the fact that such methods fail to address how correlations between measurements can vary across sites. Data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative is used to show that considerable differences in covariance exist across sites and that popular harmonization techniques do not address this issue. We then propose a novel harmonization method called Correcting Covariance Batch Effects (CovBat) that removes site effects in mean, variance, and covariance. We apply CovBat and show that within‐site correlation matrices are successfully harmonized. Furthermore, we find that ML methods are unable to distinguish scanner manufacturer after our proposed harmonization is applied, and that the CovBat‐harmonized data retain accurate prediction of disease group.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Dec 14, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.1002/hbm.25688
Entities
People
- Andrew A. Chen
- Haochang Shou
- Joanne C Beer
- Nicholas J Tustison
- Philip A. Cook
- Russell T Shinohara
- The Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative*
Organizations
- AbbVie
- BioClinica
- Eli Lilly and Company
- GE HealthCare
- Hoffmann-La Roche
- IXICO
- Laboratoires Servier
- Lundbeck
- Merck & Co.
- National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
- National Institute on Aging
- National Institutes of Health
- National Multiple Sclerosis Society
- Norman Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology
- Roche (United States)
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company
- United States Department of Defense
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Virginia