Evening vs. morning wake EEG activity in adolescents with anxiety disorders

Adolescents with anxiety disorders often report sleep disturbance. To dissociate the effects of both sets of symptoms (anxiety vs. sleep disturbances) on clinical markers we recorded evening and morning wake EEG activity in 13 anxious adolescents without sleep complaints and compared results to 15 matched healthy controls. Evening EEG activity did not differ between the two groups; in the morning, patients showed a significantly higher activity than controls at central (0.75-10 Hz and 13-20 Hz) and occipital (2.5-7.75 Hz) electrodes. Trait anxiety scores of anxious participants correlated with central electrodes delta activity and occipital electrodes delta and theta activity. State anxiety correlated with delta activity on central electrodes, particularly in the low frequency range.

The evening EEG results are not consistent with presence of central nervous system (CNS) hyperarousal in adolescents with anxiety disorders not complaining of sleep disorders. The morning EEG results could point toward a marker of CNS malfunctioning in pediatric anxiety disorders.