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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Neuroimaging
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1480228
This article is part of the Research Topic 100 Years of Electrophysiology in Psychiatry: Clinical Diagnostics, Prediction and Therapy View all 3 articles

Electroencephalographic Markers in Major Depressive Disorder: Insights from Absolute, Relative Power, and Asymmetry Analyses

Provisionally accepted
Mehmet Akif ÖZÇOBAN Mehmet Akif ÖZÇOBAN 1*Oguz Tan Oguz Tan 2
  • 1 Naci Topcuoglu Vocational School, University of Gaziantep, Gaziantep, Türkiye
  • 2 Üsküdar University, Üsküdar, Türkiye

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Major depressive Disorder (MDD) leads to dysfunction and impairment on neurological structures and cognitive functions. The pathophysiological mechanisms and effects of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) on the brain remain unclear. EEG recordings were obtained from 48 patients with varying degrees of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and 78 healthy controls. The data were analyzed using the Welch method, an advanced variant of the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). EEG data were segmented into 2-second windows (1024 data points), and a Hanning time window with 50% overlap between epochs was applied to compute the modified periodogram for each window. Absolute and relative power, as well as asymmetry values, in the theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands were calculated. When compared to healthy controls, patients with MDD exhibited significantly higher absolute and relative power values in the theta and beta bands. On the other hand, patients exhibited decreased absolute and relative power values in the alpha band. Asymmetry analysis between symmetric channels revealed significant differences in the theta band (F7-F8, C3-C4, T3-T4, T5-T6), alpha band (F7-F8, C3-C4, T3-T4, T5-T6, O1-O2), and beta band (C3-C4, T3-T4, T5-T6, P3-P4). This study demonstrates that the effects of MDD on the brain can be effectively assessed using EEG.Furthermore, asymmetry values in the theta, alpha, and beta bands may serve as potential biomarkers for MDD. The findings suggest that MDD impacts brain mechanisms and cognitive functions, as evidenced by the increased power values in the theta band and decreased power values in the alpha band. These results align with neuroimaging studies, which have identified impairments in memory, attentional functions, and certain neuroanatomical connections in MDD using neurophysiological

    Keywords: major depressive disorders, EEG, asymmetry, Absolute power, relative power

    Received: 13 Aug 2024; Accepted: 11 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 ÖZÇOBAN and Tan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Mehmet Akif ÖZÇOBAN, Naci Topcuoglu Vocational School, University of Gaziantep, Gaziantep, Türkiye

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.