Individual stability of single-channel EEG measures over one year in healthy adults

The clinical applicability of electroencephalography (EEG) relies on the reliability and temporal stability of its measures. While the reliability of linear EEG measures is well established, the long-term stability of both linear and nonlinear measures at the individual level, as well as interindividual variability, remains underexplored. This study evaluated the one-year stability of EEG absolute band powers (theta, alpha, beta, and gamma) and nonlinear measures (Higuchi's fractal dimension, Lempel-Ziv complexity, detrended fluctuation analysis, and in-phase Matrix Profile) across 12 monthly EEG recordings in nine healthy males aged 26-49. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) indicated excellent reliability across all measures, although beta power showed slightly reduced ICCs in temporal regions and gamma power demonstrated lower reliability in peripheral sites. At the individual level, nonlinear measures showed greater temporal stability than EEG band powers. Although a few individuals, particularly in band power measures, exhibited annual fluctuations comparable to or exceeding interindividual variability, most participants demonstrated consistent EEG profiles over time. These findings support the use of nonlinear EEG measures in longitudinal research and indicate their potential for developing personalized EEG-based neural biomarkers. They also highlight the importance of estimating expected individual variability when designing individualized monitoring approaches, as high reliability at the group level does not preclude substantial within-subject variability in some cases.