OBJECTIVE This study investigated age-dependent and subtype-related alterations in electroencephalography (EEG) power spectra and current source densities (CSD) in children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). METHODS We performed spectral and cortical source (exact low-resolution electromagnetic tomography, eLORETA) analyses using resting state EEG recordings from 40 children (8-16 years) with combined and inattentive subtypes of ADHD and 41 age-matched healthy controls (HC). Group differences in EEG spectra and CSD were investigated at each scalp location, voxel and cortical region in delta, theta, alpha and beta bands. We also explored associations between topographic changes in EEG power and CSD and age. RESULTS Compared to healthy controls, combined ADHD subtype was characterized with significantly increased diffuse theta/beta power ratios (TBR) with a widespread decrease in beta CSD. Inattentive ADHD subtype presented increased TBR in all brain regions except in posterior areas with a global increase in theta source power. In both ADHD and HC, older age groups showed significantly lower delta source power and TBR and higher alpha and beta source power than younger age groups. Compared to HC, ADHD was characterized with increases in theta fronto-central and temporal source power with increasing age. CONCLUSIONS Our results confirm that TBR can be used as a neurophysiological biomarker to differentiate ADHD from healthy children at both the source and sensor levels. SIGNIFICANCE Our findings emphasize the importance of performing the source imaging analysis in order to better characterize age-related changes in resting-state EEG activity in ADHD and controls.

中文翻译：

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注意缺陷多动障碍儿童静息态脑电数据的皮质来源分析

目的 本研究调查了注意力缺陷多动障碍 (ADHD) 儿童脑电图 (EEG) 功率谱和电流源密度 (CSD) 的年龄依赖性和亚型相关变化。方法我们使用来自 40 名儿童（8-16 岁）的静息状态脑电图记录进行光谱和皮质源（精确低分辨率电磁断层扫描，eLORETA）分析，这些儿童患有多动症和注意力不集中的亚型，以及 41 名年龄匹配的健康对照（HC）。在 delta、theta、alpha 和 beta 波段中的每个头皮位置、体素和皮质区域研究 EEG 谱和 CSD 的组差异。我们还探讨了 EEG 功率的地形变化与 CSD 和年龄之间的关联。结果 与健康对照相比，组合 ADHD 亚型的特点是弥漫性 theta/β 功率比 (TBR) 显着增加，β CSD 普遍下降。注意力不集中的 ADHD 亚型表现出所有大脑区域的 TBR 增加，除了后部区域，θ 源功率整体增加。在 ADHD 和 HC 中，与年轻年龄组相比，老年组显示出显着更低的 delta 源功率和 TBR 以及更高的 alpha 和 beta 源功率。与 HC 相比，ADHD 的特点是随着年龄的增长，θ 额中央和时间源功率增加。结论 我们的结果证实，TBR 可用作神经生理学生物标志物，在来源和传感器水平上将 ADHD 与健康儿童区分开来。