Increased occipital delta dipole density in major depressive disorder determined by magnetoencephalography

To test the hypothesis that there is increased low-frequency activity located predominantly in the frontal lobe in patients with major depressive disorder using magnetoencephalography.

We carried out an unmatched or separate sampling case-control study of 31 medication-free patients who met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV), criteria for major depressive disorder and were outpatients of the Hospital Central de la Defensa, Madrid, and 22 healthy control subjects with no history of mental illness. A logistic regression analysis was employed to examine the predictive value of magnetoencephalography dipole density scores in the diagnosis of depression. We attempted to locate generators of focal magnetic slow waves by employing a single moving dipole model and by calculating dipole densities in prefrontal, frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital areas. The study lasted from February 2001 to January 2003.

Only 2 dipole density scores, right occipital delta and left temporal delta, were significantly related to depression. According to the comparison of univariate and multivariate models and odds ratios, the right occipital delta dipole density is the factor with the greatest predictive power for depression, and the only one to show a significant correlation with severity of depression.

We did not find any frontal lobe functional alteration. Our study provides, to the best of our knowledge, the first evidence of abnormal focal magnetic low-frequency activity in the occipital lobe of untreated patients with depression. Increased occipital lobe delta dipole density seems to be a reliable risk factor for depression, which correlates with disease severity according to the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression.