Slow wave sleep in elderly depressed, demented, and healthy subjects.
The application of automated analysis in the measurement of sleep electroencephalogram delta activity allows a more precise temporal description of slow wave sleep changes in normal and pathological aging than do standard, all-night, slow wave sleep measures. Thus, with a baseline crossing technique, elderly depressives were shown to have a higher delta count per minute during the second NREM sleep period than did controls or demented subjects. This difference reflected greater activity per minute in the 2-3 Hz frequency band (75-200 microV).
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003700:Delta Rhythm; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male