Examining the diagnostic utility of EEG power measures in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
OBJECTIVE
This study investigated the diagnostic utility of EEG power during eyes-closed resting conditions for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD).


METHODS
Subjects consisted of 253 boys with AD/HD combined type and 67 age-matched controls. EEG was recorded from 21 sites during an eyes-closed resting condition and was Fourier transformed to provide estimates for total power and absolute and relative power in delta, theta, alpha and beta bands. Factor analysis was used to group sites into frontal, central and posterior regions, with these data subjected to cluster analysis. Logistic regression was performed on the entire AD/HD sample versus control, for AD/HD clusters versus control, and then for each AD/HD cluster independently versus control, using total, absolute and relative power measures.


RESULTS
Logistic regression performed on the clusters independently produced the best classification results, with a sensitivity of 89.0% and a specificity of 79.6%, with an overall classification accuracy of 87.0%.


CONCLUSIONS
The obtained classification results are supportive of an independent diagnostic test for AD/HD based on EEG power at rest.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first study to investigate sensitivity and specificity of EEG power for AD/HD in a resting condition.
Magee
Christopher A
CA
Department of Psychology, Brain & Behaviour Research Institute, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
Clarke
Adam R
AR
Barry
Robert J
RJ
McCarthy
Rory
R
Selikowitz
Mark
M
D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity