[Quantitative electroencephalography as a tool for the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with...

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis is based on behavioral symptoms referred by the patient or their caregivers, which includes a high subjective component. This highlights the need to find biomarkers that might help clinicians to objectively identify this condition and to assess the evolution of the patient and the effectiveness of the treatments using quantitative information. Previous studies suggest that data from quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) could be useful for the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with ADHD; however, many professionals do not know its possibilities.

To describe and discuss the principal findings of qEEG neurometry in ADHD subjects along the last 10 years.

A systematic review, based on PRISMA methodology and using PubMed database, was carried out to identify original articles published in the last 10 years, that studied qEEG parameters within the ADHD context.

A total of 13 research articles out of 65 were selected for an in-depth analysis.

qEEG parameters could provide relevant information in the context of ADHD; however, its applicability is currently limited to complementing the subjective diagnosis methods and not to its replacement, as published data are just preliminary and need larger and deeper studies. However, qEEG data can help to better understand ADHD and its neurophysiology, characterize its subtypes and therefore move towards personalized and more effective treatments.