Decrease in brain complexity with methylphenidate treatment in boys diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: An entropy-based qeeg analysis

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Çetin F. H., Usta M. B., Aydin S., Güven A. S.

EUROPEAN PSYCHIATRY, vol.64, 2021 (SCI-Expanded, SSCI, Scopus) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Abstract
  • Volume: 64
  • Publication Date: 2021
  • Doi Number: 10.1192/j.eurpsy.2021.1685
  • Journal Name: EUROPEAN PSYCHIATRY
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, PASCAL, BIOSIS, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Psycinfo, Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Keywords: ADHD, methylphenidate, entropy, complexity
  • Open Archive Collection: AVESIS Open Access Collection
  • Hacettepe University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Decrease in brain complexity with methylphenidate treatment in boys diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Introduction

Attention deficit hyperactivity (ADHD) disorder is a common childhood neurodevelopmental disorder, and Methylphenidate (MPH) is a first-line therapeutic option for treating ADHD.However, how brain complexity and entropy changes with methylphenidate treatment the clinical implications of possible changes in entropy and the clinical implications of possible changes in entropy have yet to be studied.

Objectives

This study aimed to reveal how the MPH treatment affects the complexity in the brain of children with ADHD by entropy-based qEEG analysis. In addition, the presence of the relationship between possible neurophysiological changes to be detected with clinical variables and how they are two other important questions of this study to be answered.

Methods

During eyes-open resting, EEG signals were recorded from 25 boys with ADHD-combined type before MPH administration and at the end of the 1st month of the treatment. Approximate entropy (ApEn), sample entropy (SampEn), permutation entropy (PermEn) were used to analyse.

Results

A statistically significant decrease in entropy level was found with MPH treatment in the F4 channel according to approximate entropy (ApEn) and sample entropy (SampEn) analysis (p<0.05). In addition, according to permutation entropy (PermEn) analysis, the decrease in entropy with MPH treatment in the regions indicated by F3, F4, P4, T3, T6, and O2 channels was found to be statistically significant (p <0.05).

Conclusions

This is the first study to investigate how MPH treatment affects the complexity in the brain of children with ADHD. Entropy-based qEEG analysis may be a new method that can be used in diagnostic, clinical and prognostic predictions in ADHD.


Keywords: ADHD, entropy, complexity, methylphenidate