title: Increased frontal electroencephalogram theta amplitude in patients with anorexia nervosa compared to healthy controls.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To conduct a blind study of quantitative electroencephalogram-band amplitudes in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and healthy controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-one patients with AN and 24 controls were examined with eyes-closed 16-channel electroencephalogram. Main variables were absolute alpha, theta, and delta amplitudes in frontal, temporal, and posterior regions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant differences between the AN patients and controls regarding absolute regional band amplitudes in μV. Borderline significance was found for anterior theta (P=0.051). Significantly increased left and right frontal electrode theta amplitude was found in AN patients (F3,P=0.014; F4,P=0.038) compared to controls. Significant differences were also observed for secondary variables: lower values for relative parietooccipital delta and frontocentral alpha activity among AN patients than among controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We observed slight excess frontal theta and lower relative alpha and delta amplitudes among AN patients than among controls. This pattern is possibly related to a slight frontal lobe dysfunction in AN, or it may reflect increased attention/vigilance or another state-related change in patients with AN compared to healthy controls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Research, Innlandet Hospital Trust, Brumunddal, Norway; Department of Public Health, Hedmark University of Applied Sciences, Elverum, Norway; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology Management, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Knut A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Hestad
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology Management, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway; Department of Psychiatry, Specialised Unit for Eating Disorder Patients, Levanger Hospital, Health Trust Nord-Trøndelag, Levanger, Norway.
authors.forename: Siri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Weider
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway; Department of Work Psychology and Physiology, National Institute of Occupational Health, Oslo, Norway; Department of Neurology, Section for Clinical Neurophysiology, Oslo University Hospital, Ullevål, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Kristian Bernhard
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Nilsen
authors.affiliation: Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, St Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Marit Sæbø
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Indredavik
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Section for Clinical Neurophysiology, Oslo University Hospital, Ullevål, Oslo, Norway; Department of Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, St Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Trond
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sand
keywords: EEG; alpha; anorexia; delta; eating disorders; frontal theta