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Increased frontal electroencephalogram theta amplitude in patients with anorexia nervosa compared to healthy controls
Knut A Hestad1, Siri Weider2, Kristian Bernhard Nilsen3
1Department of Research, Innlandet Hospital Trust, Brumunddal, Norway; Department of Public Health, Hedmark University of Applied Sciences, Elverum, Norway; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology Management, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
Objective:
To conduct a blind study of quantitative electroencephalogram-band amplitudes in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and healthy controls.
Methods:
Twenty-one patients with AN and 24 controls were examined with eyes-closed 16-channel electroencephalogram. Main variables were absolute alpha, theta, and delta amplitudes in frontal, temporal, and posterior regions.
Results:
There were no significant differences between the AN patients and controls regarding absolute regional band amplitudes in μV. Borderline significance was found for anterior theta (P=0.051). Significantly increased left and right frontal electrode theta amplitude was found in AN patients (F3, P=0.014; F4, P=0.038) compared to controls. Significant differences were also observed for secondary variables: lower values for relative parietooccipital delta and frontocentral alpha activity among AN patients than among controls.
Conclusion:
We observed slight excess frontal theta and lower relative alpha and delta amplitudes among AN patients than among controls. This pattern is possibly related to a slight frontal lobe dysfunction in AN, or it may reflect increased attention/vigilance or another state-related change in patients with AN compared to healthy controls.
