The status of MRI databases across the world focused on psychiatric and neurological disorders

Abstract

Neuroimaging databases for neuro-psychiatric disorders enable researchers to implement data-driven research approaches by providing access to rich data that can be used to study disease, build and validate machine learning models, and even redefine disease spectra. The importance of sharing large, multi-center, multi-disorder databases has gradually been recognized in order to truly translate brain imaging knowledge into real-world clinical practice. Here, we review MRI databases that share data globally to serve multiple psychiatric or neurological disorders. We found 42 datasets consisting of 23,293 samples from patients with psychiatry and neurological disorders and healthy controls; 1245 samples from mood disorders (major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder), 2015 samples from developmental disorders (autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder), 675 samples from schizophrenia, 1194 samples from Parkinson's disease, 5865 samples from dementia (including Alzheimer's disease), We recognize that large, multi-center databases should include governance processes that allow data to be shared across national boundaries. Addressing technical and regulatory issues of existing databases can lead to better design and implementation and improve data access for the research community. The current trend toward the development of shareable MRI databases will contribute to a better understanding of the pathophysiology, diagnosis and assessment, and development of early interventions for neuropsychiatric disorders.

Keywords: MRI; data sharing; database; neurological disorders; psychiatric disorders.

Fig. 1

Summary of shared MRI datasets of psychiatric and neurological disorders. (a) The number of sites that collected the data and the total sample size of the datasets. Each marker size indicates the number of disorders included in the dataset. (b) The population of participants pertaining to each disorder. Other information includes patients with disorders other than the six targeted disorders. NA indicates that information about the number of patients and healthy controls is not available (mixed). (c) The access level of the datasets. Other information includes exceptional cases. See Tables 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 of each dataset for details. AD, Alzheimer's disease; DD, developmental disorders; HC, healthy control participants; MD, mood disorders; PD, Parkinson's disease; SCH, schizophrenia.