Increased frontal electroencephalogram theta amplitude in patients with anorexia nervosa compared to healthy controls

Knut A Hestad; Siri Weider; Kristian Bernhard Nilsen; Marit Sæbø Indredavik; Trond Sand

doi:10.2147/NDT.S113586

Increased frontal electroencephalogram theta amplitude in patients with anorexia nervosa compared to healthy controls

Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2016 Sep 21:12:2419-2423. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S113586. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Knut A Hestad¹, Siri Weider², Kristian Bernhard Nilsen³, Marit Sæbø Indredavik⁴, Trond Sand⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department 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.
² Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology Management, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway; Department of Psychiatry, Specialised Unit for Eating Disorder Patients, Levanger Hospital, Health Trust Nord-Trøndelag, Levanger, Norway.
³ Department of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway; Department of Work Psychology and Physiology, National Institute of Occupational Health, Oslo, Norway; Department of Neurology, Section for Clinical Neurophysiology, Oslo University Hospital, Ullevål, Oslo, Norway.
⁴ Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, St Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
⁵ Department of Neurology, Section for Clinical Neurophysiology, Oslo University Hospital, Ullevål, Oslo, Norway; Department of Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, St Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: EEG; alpha; anorexia; delta; eating disorders; frontal theta.