Effect of sex, psychosocial disadvantages and biological risk factors on EEG maturation

Abstract

Broad-band frequency analysis was performed on the EEGs of school-age children in order to study the effects of sex, socioeconomic status (SES) and biological risk factors on EEG maturation. Absolute power and relative power in delta, theta, alpha and beta frequency bands were computed in monopolar recordings from F3, F4, C3, C4, P3, P4, O1, O2, F7, F8, T3, T4, T5 and T6. Total absolute power and power in the delta and theta bands decreased with age, following a quadratic polynomial expression. Relative power followed a linear regression with age. Delta and theta decreased while alpha and beta increased. Sex differences in relative power were observed, possibly related to a pubertal spurt: slopes of regression equations were steeper in girls than in boys. Children from low SES (very low income and/or illiterate mother) had higher values of absolute power and a higher percentage of delta and lower of alpha than children with good SES, suggesting a maturational lag. A group of children with personal antecedents of risk factors associated with brain damage were compared with children without antecedents. The former group had higher values of absolute power. Depending on the severity of the risk, children with more severe antecedents had greater differences from children with no antecedents than children in whom antecedents were considered as slight. Risk antecedents had no effect on relative power.