Meta-analytic Gaussian Network Aggregation

A growing number of publications focus on estimating Gaussian graphical models (GGM, networks of partial correlation coefficients). At the same time, generalizibility and replicability of these highly parameterized models are debated, and sample sizes typically found in datasets may not be sufficient for estimating the underlying network structure. In addition, while recent work emerged that aims to compare networks based on different samples, these studies do not take potential cross-study heterogeneity into account. To this end, this paper introduces methods for estimating GGMs by aggregating over multiple datasets. We first introduce a general maximum likelihood estimation modeling framework in which all discussed models are embedded. This modeling framework is subsequently used to introduce meta-analytic Gaussian network aggregation (MAGNA). We discuss two variants: fixed-effects MAGNA, in which heterogeneity across studies is not taken into account, and random-effects MAGNA, which models sample correlations and takes heterogeneity into account. We assess the performance of MAGNA in large-scale simulation studies. Finally, we exemplify the method using four datasets of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and summarize findings from a larger meta-analysis of PTSD symptom.