Quantitative EEG and its relationship with attentional control in patients with anxiety disorders

Danfeng Yuan; Xiangyun Yang; Pengchong Wang; Lijuan Yang; Ting Yang; Fang He; Yi Xu; Zhanjiang Li

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1483433

Quantitative EEG and its relationship with attentional control in patients with anxiety disorders

Front Psychiatry. 2024 Nov 11:15:1483433. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1483433. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Danfeng Yuan^{1

2}, Xiangyun Yang^{1

2}, Pengchong Wang^{1

2}, Lijuan Yang^{1

2}, Ting Yang^{1

2}, Fang He^{1

2}, Yi Xu^{1

2}, Zhanjiang Li^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
² Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Introduction: Attentional control is crucial in the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of attentional control can help to shed light on the neuropathological processes in anxiety disorders (ANX). Quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) offers a cost-effective, noninvasive method for examining the neuropathological mechanisms of mental disorders.

Methods: In this study, 67 patients with ANX and 45 healthy controls (HC) were recruited. EEG recordings were obtained for 5 minutes in an eyes-closed condition. QEEG was employed to evaluate the mechanisms of attentional control in ANX.

Results: Neurophysiological measures indicated that anxiety patients exhibited a more frontal topographic pattern of theta/beta ratio (TBR) compared to HC. Additionally, a significant decrease in temporal beta power was observed in the ANX group. Correlation analysis revealed that decreased beta power and increased TBR were significant association between attentional control deficits in ANX.

Discussion: These findings provide electrophysiological evidence of impaired attentional control processing in anxiety patients, characterized by decreased temporal beta power and increased frontal TBR. Temporal beta power and frontal TBR may serve as promising biomarkers for attentional control in ANX.

Keywords: anxiety disorders; attentional control; beta power; resting-state EEG; theta beta ratio.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the Science and Technology Innovation 2030 – Major Project on Brain Science and Brain‐like Research, grant number (2021ZD0202004) and the research on the establishment of sleep/wake disorders cohort and early warming system, grant number(2-3-1-ky481).