What a single electroencephalographic (EEG) channel can tell us about patients with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease

Abnormalities in cortical sources of resting-state eyes-closed electroencephalographic (rsEEG) rhythms recorded by hospital settings (10–20 electrode montage) with 19 scalp electrodes provide useful markers of neurophysiological dysfunctions in the vigilance regulation in patients with Alzheimer's disease dementia (ADD). Here we tested whether these markers may be effective from a few scalp electrodes towards the use of low-cost recording devices. Clinical and rsEEG data acquired in hospital settings (10–20 electrode montage) from 88 ADD participants and 68 age-, education-, and sex-matched normal elderly controls (Nold) were available in an international Eurasian database. Standard spectral FFT analysis of rsEEG data for individual delta, theta, and alpha frequency bands was from C3-P3, C4-P4, P3-O1, and P4-O2 bipolar channels. As compared to the Nold group, the ADD group showed increased delta, theta, low-frequency alpha power density and decreased high-frequency alpha power density at all those bipolar channels. The highest classification accuracy between the ADD and Nold individuals reached 90 % (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve) using Alpha2/Theta power density computed at the C3-P3 bipolar channel. Standard rsEEG power density computed from a few posterior bipolar channels successfully classified Nold and ADD individuals, thus encouraging a massive prescreening of neurophysiological mechanisms underpinning the vigilance dysregulation in underserved old seniors. •ADD group show increased rsEEG delta, theta, low-frequency alpha and decreased high-frequency alpha power at bipolar channels.•The classification accuracy between the ADD and Nold individuals reaches 90%.•Simple bipolar montage reflects the differences in the neurophysiological vigilance regulation between Nold and ADD groups.