Identifying sources of bias when testing three available algorithms for quantifying white matter lesions: BIANCA, LPA and LGA

Abstract Brain magnetic resonance imaging frequently reveals white matter lesions (WMLs) in older adults. They are often associated with cognitive impairment and risk of dementia. Given the continuous search for the optimal segmentation algorithm, we broke down this question by exploring whether the output of algorithms frequently used might be biased by the presence of different influencing factors. We studied the impact of age, sex, blood glucose levels, diabetes, systolic blood pressure and hypertension on automatic WML segmentation algorithms. We evaluated three widely used algorithms (BIANCA, LPA and LGA) using the population-based 1000BRAINS cohort ( N = 1166, aged 18–87, 523 females, 643 males). We analysed two main aspects. Firstly, we examined whether training data (TD) characteristics influenced WML estimations, assessing the impact of relevant factors in the TD. Secondly, algorithm’s output and performance within selected subgroups defined by these factors were assessed. Results revealed that BIANCA’s WML estimations are influenced by the characteristics present in the TD. LPA and LGA consistently provided lower WML estimations compared to BIANCA’s output when tested on participants under 67 years of age without risk cardiovascular factors. Notably, LPA and LGA showed reduced accuracy for these participants. However, LPA and LGA showed better performance for older participants presenting cardiovascular risk factors. Results suggest that incorporating comprehensive cohort factors like diverse age, sex and participants with and without hypertension in the TD could enhance WML-based analyses and mitigate potential sources of bias. LPA and LGA are a fast and valid option for older participants with cardiovascular risk factors.