<scp>Mega‐analysis</scp> methods in <scp>ENIGMA</scp> : The experience of the generalized anxiety disorder working group
André Zugman, Anita Harrewijn, Elise M. Cardinale, Hannah Zwiebel, Gabrielle F. Freitag, Katy E. Werwath, Janna Marie Bas‐Hoogendam, Nynke A. Groenewold, Moji Aghajani, Kevin Hilbert, Narcı́s Cardoner, Daniel Porta‐Casteràs, Savannah N. Gosnell, Ramiro Salas, Karina S. Blair, James Blair, Mira Z. Hammoud, Mohammed R. Milad, Katie L. Burkhouse, K. Luan Phan, Heidi K. Schroeder, Jeffrey R. Strawn, Katja Beesdo‐Baum, Sophia I. Thomopoulos, Hans J. Grabe, Sandra Van der Auwera, Katharina Wittfeld, Jared A. Nielsen, Randy L. Buckner, Jordan W. Smoller, Benson Mwangi, Jair C. Soares, Mon‐Ju Wu, Giovana Zunta‐Soares, Andrea Parolin Jackowski, Pedro Mário Pan, Giovanni Abrahão Salum, Michal Assaf, Gretchen J. Diefenbach, Paolo Brambilla, Eleonora Maggioni, David Hofmann, Thomas Straube, Carmen Andreescu, Rachel Berta, Erica Tamburo, Rebecca B. Price, Gisele Gus Manfro, Hugo Critchley, Elena Makovac, Matteo Mancini, Frances Meeten, Cristina Ottaviani, Federica Agosta, Elisa Canu, Camilla Cividini, Massimo Filippi, Milutin Kostić, Ana Munjiza, Courtney A. Filippi, Ellen Leibenluft, Bianca A. V. Alberton, Nicholas L. Balderston, Monique Ernst, Christian Grillon, Lilianne R. Mujica‐Parodi, Helena van Nieuwenhuizen, Gregory A. Fonzo, Martin P. Paulus, Murray B. Stein, Raquel E. Gur, Ruben C. Gur, Antonia N. Kaczkurkin, Bart Larsen, Theodore D. Satterthwaite, Jennifer Harper, Michael J. Myers, Michael T. Perino, Qiongru Yu, Chad M. Sylvester, Dick J. Veltman, Ulrike Lueken, Nic J.A. van der Wee, Dan J. Stein, Neda Jahanshad, Paul M. Thompson, Daniel S. Pine, Anderson M. Winkler
Abstract
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.