Prediction of Depression Severity Scores Based on Functional Connectivity and Complexity of the EEG Signal

Depression is one of the most common mental disorders and the leading cause of functional disabilities. This study aims to specify whether functional connectivity and complexity of brain activity can predict the severity of depression (Beck Depression Inventory-II scores).

Resting-state, eyes-closed EEG data were recorded from 60 depressed patients. A phase synchronization measure was used to estimate functional connectivity between all pairs of the EEG channels in the delta (1-4 Hz), theta (4-8 Hz), alpha (8-13 Hz), and beta (13-30 Hz) frequency bands. To quantify the local value of functional connectivity, 2 graph theory metrics, degree, and clustering coefficient (CC), were measured. Moreover, Lempel-Ziv complexity (LZC) and fuzzy entropy (FuzzyEn) were used to measure the complexity of the EEG signal.

Through correlation analysis, a significant negative relationship was found between graph metrics and depression severity in the alpha band. This association was strongly positive for the complexity measures in alpha and delta bands. Also, the linear regression model represented a substantial performance of depression severity prediction based on EEG features of the alpha band (r = 0.839; P < .0001, root mean square error score of 7.69).

We found that the brain activity of patients with depression was related to depression severity. Abnormal brain activity reflects an increase in the severity of depression. The presented regression model provides a quantitative depression severity prediction, which can inform the development of EEG state and exhibit potential desirable application for the medical treatment of the depressive disorder.