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The YOUth cohort study: MRI protocol and test-retest reliability in adults
YOUth facilitates data sharing and aims for reliable and high-quality data. This first publication by the YOUth MRI team includes an overview of the YOUth Child & Adolescent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol and test-retest reliability for different neuroimaging modalities. The researchers show that using the state-of-the art YOUth MRI protocol brain measures can be estimated reliably. This information is valuable to the field at large as well as for researchers aiming to adopt protocols or reuse the data collected in the YOUth cohort.
YOUth is a unique longitudinal study examining children’s development of social competence and self-regulation, with a focus on brain development. As part of YOUth, children at 8, 9 or 10 years of age are included and asked to return for a brain scan every three years during adolescence. During each visit MRI brain scans are collected, including structural T1-weighted imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), resting-state functional MRI and task-based functional MRI. Researchers can derive brain measures from each type of scan. To study subtle differences in the development of brain structure and function, it is important to have reliable brain measures. The researchers provide a comprehensive report of the MR acquisition in YOUth Child & Adolescent including the test-retest reliability for the derived brain measures.
Measuring reliability
To measure test-retest reliability, 17 adults were scanned twice with a week between sessions using the full YOUth MRI protocol. Intraclass correlation coefficients were calculated to quantify reliability. Overall, the researchers show that using the state-of-the art YOUth MRI protocol brain measures can be estimated reliably. Three things stood out:
- Test-retest reliability of structural MRI and DWI data was good
- Test-retest reliability of resting-state and task-related fMRI was moderate
- Overall, global brain measures are more reliable than local brain measures
Ready to examine subtle differences in brain development
In YOUth, the large sample size together with reasonable to good test-retest reliability increases the probability of finding subtle developmental effects. The paper provides a transparent report of the methodology used in YOUth from MRI acquisition to monitoring quality and reliability. This reliability study shows promising results for the studies that will be done using MRI data collected within the YOUth cohort.
More information
Elizabeth E.L. Buimer, Pascal Pas, Rachel M. Brouwer, Martijn Froeling, Hans Hoogduin, Alexander Leemans, Peter Luijten, Bastiaan J. van Nierop, Mathijs Raemaekers, Hugo G.Schnack, Jalmar Teeuw, Matthijs Vink, Fredy Visser, Hilleke E. Hulshoff Pol, René C.W. Mandl (2020) The YOUth cohort study: MRI protocol and test-retest reliability in adults Developmental cognitive neuroscience DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100816
This paper is part of a special issue in Developmental cognitive neuroscience about the Consortium on Individual Development. For an overview of all papers go to here.
YOUth is part of the Utrecht University research theme Dynamics of Youth and part of UMC Utrecht Brain Center
