Combining meta- and mega- analytic approaches for multi-site diffusion imaging based genetic studies: From the ENIGMA-DTI working group

Meta-analyses estimate a statistical effect size for a test or an analysis by combining results from multiple studies without necessarily having access to each individual study's raw data. Multi-site meta-analysis is crucial for imaging genetics, as single sites rarely have a sample size large enough to pick up effects of single genetic variants associated with brain measures. However, if raw data can be shared, combining data in a “mega-analysis” is thought to improve power and precision in estimating global effects. As part of an ENIGMA-DTI investigation, we use fractional anisotropy (FA) maps from 5 studies (total N=2,203 subjects, aged 9-85) to estimate heritability. We combine the studies through meta- and mega-analyses as well as a mixture of the two - combining some cohorts with mega-analysis and meta-analyzing the results with those of the remaining sites. A combination of mega- and meta-approaches may boost power compared to meta-analysis alone.