title: Altered Intermittent Rhythmic Delta and Theta Activity in the Electroencephalographies of High Functioning Adult Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
abstract: Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is often associated with epilepsy. Previous studies have also shown increased rates of electroencephalographic (EEG) alteration in ASD patients without epilepsy. The aim of this study was to compare the rate of intermittent rhythmic delta and theta activity (IRDA/IRTA) events between high-functioning adult patients with ASD and matched healthy controls.Materials and Methods: Routine EEG records of 19 ASD patients and 19 matched controls were screened for IRDA/IRTA using a fully data driven analysis with fixed thresholds. IRDA/IRTA rates before and after hyperventilation (HV) as well as the HV-induced difference in IRDA/IRTA rates (HV difference) were analyzed. For inter-group measures, we used the Wilcoxon rank sum test.Results: Significantly increased HV difference was detected in the ASD group (p= 0.0497). However, the groups showed no difference in IRDA/IRTA rates before HV (p= 0.564) and after HV (p= 0.163).Conclusions: The lack of any group differences regarding IRDA/IRTA before HV might be related to the fact that we only studied non-secondary high-functioning autism in a small sample of epilepsy-free adult patients. A significantly increased HV difference might be regarded as a marker of subtle neuronal network instability possibly causing short-term disturbances via local area network inhibition and long-term effects via epileptic encephalopathy.
authors.affiliation: Section for Experimental Neuropsychiatry, Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Endres
authors.affiliation: Section for Experimental Neuropsychiatry, Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maier
authors.affiliation: Section for Experimental Neuropsychiatry, Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Feige
authors.affiliation: Section for Experimental Neuropsychiatry, Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Nicole A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Posielski
authors.affiliation: Section for Experimental Neuropsychiatry, Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Kathrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nickel
authors.affiliation: Section for Experimental Neuropsychiatry, Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ebert
authors.affiliation: Section for Experimental Neuropsychiatry, Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Riedel
authors.affiliation: Medical Campus University of Oldenburg, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy-University Hospital, Karl-Jaspers-Klinik Bad Zwischenahn, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Philipsen
authors.affiliation: Section for Experimental Neuropsychiatry, Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Evgeniy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Perlov
authors.affiliation: Section for Experimental Neuropsychiatry, Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Ludger
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tebartz van Elst
keywords: Asperger syndrome; EEG; IRDA; adults; autism spectrum disorder