TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of Magnetic Resonance Image Quality on Structural and Functional Brain Connectivity
T2 - The Maastricht Study
AU - de Jong, Joost J A
AU - Jansen, Jacobus F A
AU - Vergoossen, Laura W M
AU - Schram, Miranda T
AU - Stehouwer, Coen D A
AU - Wildberger, Joachim E
AU - Linden, David E J
AU - Backes, Walter H
PY - 2024/1/8
Y1 - 2024/1/8
N2 - In population-based cohort studies, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is vital for examining brain structure and function. Advanced MRI techniques, such as diffusion-weighted MRI (dMRI) and resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI), provide insights into brain connectivity. However, biases in MRI data acquisition and processing can impact brain connectivity measures and their associations with demographic and clinical variables. This study, conducted with 5110 participants from The Maastricht Study, explored the relationship between brain connectivity and various image quality metrics (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio, head motion, and atlas-template mismatches) that were obtained from dMRI and rs-fMRI scans. Results revealed that in particular increased head motion (R up to 0.169, < 0.001) and reduced signal-to-noise ratio (R up to 0.013, < 0.001) negatively impacted structural and functional brain connectivity, respectively. These image quality metrics significantly affected associations of overall brain connectivity with age (up to -59%), sex (up to -25%), and body mass index (BMI) (up to +14%). Associations with diabetes status, educational level, history of cardiovascular disease, and white matter hyperintensities were generally less affected. This emphasizes the potential confounding effects of image quality in large population-based neuroimaging studies on brain connectivity and underscores the importance of accounting for it.
AB - In population-based cohort studies, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is vital for examining brain structure and function. Advanced MRI techniques, such as diffusion-weighted MRI (dMRI) and resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI), provide insights into brain connectivity. However, biases in MRI data acquisition and processing can impact brain connectivity measures and their associations with demographic and clinical variables. This study, conducted with 5110 participants from The Maastricht Study, explored the relationship between brain connectivity and various image quality metrics (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio, head motion, and atlas-template mismatches) that were obtained from dMRI and rs-fMRI scans. Results revealed that in particular increased head motion (R up to 0.169, < 0.001) and reduced signal-to-noise ratio (R up to 0.013, < 0.001) negatively impacted structural and functional brain connectivity, respectively. These image quality metrics significantly affected associations of overall brain connectivity with age (up to -59%), sex (up to -25%), and body mass index (BMI) (up to +14%). Associations with diabetes status, educational level, history of cardiovascular disease, and white matter hyperintensities were generally less affected. This emphasizes the potential confounding effects of image quality in large population-based neuroimaging studies on brain connectivity and underscores the importance of accounting for it.
KW - brain connectivity
KW - image quality
KW - magnetic resonance imaging
KW - neuroimaging
KW - population-cohort study
U2 - 10.3390/brainsci14010062
DO - 10.3390/brainsci14010062
M3 - Article
SN - 2076-3425
VL - 14
JO - Brain Sciences
JF - Brain Sciences
IS - 1
M1 - 62
ER -