Сorrelations of EEG with Clinical Scores in Depressive Patients with a History of Suicide Attempts

Abstract

Study Objective: to clarify the role of neurophysiological mechanisms in the pathogenesis of suicidal behavior in young depressed patients with a history of suicidal attempts. Study Design: open study. Materials and methods. The study included 35 female patients aged 16-25 years. Relationships between pre-treatment quantitative clinical scores (according to the HDRS-17 scale) and values of the absolute spectral power of the background resting EEG in narrow frequency sub- bands were analyzed. Study Results. Significant negative correlations (p < 0.05) between the EEG parameters and the sum of depression cluster scores of the HDRS-17 scale indicate reduced activation of the frontal-anterotemporal cortex areas of both hemispheres (according to the values of the alpha2 EEG sub-band (9–11 Hz) spectral power in F7, F3, F4 and F8 leads), and especially, of the left anterior temporal region (according to the values of the EEG beta2 sub-band (20–30 Hz) spectral power in F7 lead). In addition, these patients are characterized by a somewhat reduced functional state of the central temporal-parietal zones of the right hemisphere in the form of significant positive correlations (p < 0.05–0.01) of the slow-wave delta (2–4 Hz), theta1 (4–6 Hz) and theta2 (6–8 Hz) EEG activity spectral power values in F4, C4, T4 and P4 leads with the sum of anxiety cluster scores of the HDRS-17 scale. Conclusion. The results obtained make it possible to clarify the neurophysiological mechanisms of the pathogenesis of suicidal behavior in young depressive patients. Keywords: depression, young age, suicide attempts, quantitative EEG.