ComBatLS: A location- and scale-preserving method for multi-site image harmonization

Abstract

Recent work has leveraged massive datasets and advanced harmonization methods to construct normative models of neuroanatomical features and benchmark individuals morphology. However, current harmonization tools do not preserve the effects of biological covariates including sex and age on features variances; this failure may induce error in normative scores, particularly when such factors are distributed unequally across sites. Here, we introduce a new extension of the popular ComBat harmonization method, ComBatLS, that preserves biological variance in features locations and scales. We use UK Biobank data to show that ComBatLS robustly replicates individuals normative scores better than other ComBat methods when subjects are assigned to sex-imbalanced synthetic "sites". Additionally, we demonstrate that ComBatLS significantly reduces sex biases in normative scores compared to traditional methods. Finally, we show that ComBatLS successfully harmonizes consortium data collected across over 50 studies. R implementation of ComBatLS is available at https://github.com/andy1764/ComBatFamily.