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Resting EEG Periodic and Aperiodic Components Predict Cognitive Decline Over 10 Years.

ABSTRACT: Measures of intrinsic brain function at rest show promise as predictors of cognitive decline in humans, including EEG metrics such as individual alpha peak frequency (IAPF) and the aperiodic exponent, reflecting the strongest frequency of alpha oscillations and the relative balance of excitatory:inhibitory neural activity, respectively. Both IAPF and the aperiodic exponent decrease with age and have been associated with worse executive function and working memory. However, few studies have jointly examined their associations with cognitive function, and none have examined their association with longitudinal cognitive decline rather than cross-sectional impairment. In a preregistered secondary analysis of data from the longitudinal Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study, we tested whether IAPF and aperiodic exponent measured at rest predict cognitive function ( N = 234; age at EEG recording M = 54.86, SD = 10.76) over 10 years. The IAPF and the aperiodic exponent interacted to predict decline in overall cognitive ability, even after controlling for age, sex, education, and lag between data collection timepoints. Post-hoc tests showed that "mismatched" IAPF and aperiodic exponents (e.g., higher exponent with lower IAPF) predicted greater cognitive decline compared to "matching" IAPF and aperiodic exponents (e.g., higher exponent with higher IAPF; lower IAPF with lower aperiodic exponent). These effects were largely driven by measures of executive function. Our findings provide the first evidence that IAPF and the aperiodic exponent are joint predictors of cognitive decline from midlife into old age and thus may offer a useful clinical tool for predicting cognitive risk in aging.

Significance statement

Measures of intrinsic brain function at rest assessed noninvasively from the scalp using electroencephalography (EEG) show promise as predictors of cognitive decline in humans. Using data from 234 participants from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) longitudinal study, we found two resting EEG markers (individual peak alpha frequency and aperiodic exponent) interacted to predict cognitive decline over a span of 10 years. Follow-up analyses revealed that "mismatched" markers (i.e., high in one and low in the other) predicted greater cognitive decline compared to "matching" markers. Because of the low cost and ease of collecting EEG data at rest, the current research provides evidence for possible scalable clinical applications for identifying individuals at risk for accelerated cognitive decline.

SUBMITTER: Finley AJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10370116 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Resting EEG Periodic and Aperiodic Components Predict Cognitive Decline Over 10 Years.

Finley Anna J AJ Angus Douglas J DJ Knight Erik E van Reekum Carien M CM Lachman Margie E ME Davidson Richard J RJ Schaefer Stacey M SM

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 20240125

Measures of intrinsic brain function at rest show promise as predictors of cognitive decline in humans, including EEG metrics such as individual alpha peak frequency (IAPF) and the aperiodic exponent, reflecting the strongest frequency of alpha oscillations and the relative balance of excitatory:inhibitory neural activity, respectively. Both IAPF and the aperiodic exponent decrease with age and have been associated with worse executive function and working memory. However, few studies have joint ...[more]

PMID: 37503078

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Project description:BackgroundInduction of general anesthesia with propofol induces radical changes in cortical network organization, leading to unconsciousness. While perioperative frontal electroencephalography (EEG) has been widely implemented in the past decades, validated and age-independent EEG markers for the timepoint of loss of consciousness (LOC) are lacking. Especially the appearance of spatially coherent frontal alpha oscillations (8-12 Hz) marks the transition to unconsciousness.Here we explored whether decomposing the EEG spectrum into its periodic and aperiodic components unveiled markers of LOC and investigated their age-dependency. We further characterized the LOC-associated alpha oscillations by parametrizing the adjusted power over the aperiodic component, the center frequency, and the bandwidth of the peak in the alpha range.MethodsIn this prospective observational trial, EEG were recorded in a young (18-30 years) and an elderly age-cohort (≥ 70 years) over the transition to propofol-induced unconsciousness. An event marker was set in the EEG recordings at the timepoint of LOC, defined with the suppression of the lid closure reflex. Spectral analysis was conducted with the multitaper method. Aperiodic and periodic components were parametrized with the FOOOF toolbox. Aperiodic parametrization comprised the exponent and the offset. The periodic parametrization consisted in the characterization of the peak in the alpha range with its adjusted power, center frequency and bandwidth. Three time-segments were defined: preLOC (105 - 75 s before LOC), LOC (15 s before to 15 s after LOC), postLOC (190 - 220 s after LOC). Statistical significance was determined with a repeated-measures ANOVA.ResultsLoss of consciousness was associated with an increase in the aperiodic exponent (young: p = 0.004, elderly: p = 0.007) and offset (young: p = 0.020, elderly: p = 0.004) as well as an increase in the adjusted power (young: p < 0.001, elderly p = 0.011) and center frequency (young: p = 0.008, elderly: p < 0.001) of the periodic alpha peak. We saw age-related differences in the aperiodic exponent and offset after LOC as well as in the power and bandwidth of the periodic alpha peak during LOC.ConclusionDecomposing the EEG spectrum over induction of anesthesia into its periodic and aperiodic components unveiled novel age-independent EEG markers of propofol-induced LOC: the aperiodic exponent and offset as well as the center frequency and adjusted power of the power peak in the alpha range.

Dataset Information

Resting EEG Periodic and Aperiodic Components Predict Cognitive Decline Over 10 Years.

Significance statement

Publications

Resting EEG Periodic and Aperiodic Components Predict Cognitive Decline Over 10 Years.

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