Quantitative Electroencephalography Analyzed by Statistical Pattern Recognition as a Diagnostic and Prognostic Tool in Mild Cognitive Impairment: Results from a Nordic Multicenter Cohort Study

AIM: To examine diagnostic and prognostic potential of quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) analyzed by the statistical pattern recognition (SPR) method in patients with cognitive impairment. We compared the differential diagnostic ability of SPR to visual EEG analysis. Correlation between SPR findings and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Alzheimer disease (AD) biomarkers were evaluated. METHODS: It is a multicenter cohort study involving 129 patients, (mild cognitive impairment [MCI], AD, and healthy controls). Standardized EEG was performed at baseline. Patients were continuously clinically evaluated. RESULTS: Receiver Operating Characteristic curves showed a low discriminative ability of SPR and no ability to predict clinical progression in patients with MCI. Moderate correlation between SPR analysis and CSF AD biomarkers was found. CONCLUSION: The diagnostic and prognostic abilities of qEEG were low. The SPR method was superior to the visual EEG analysis. The qEEG method correlates well to CSF AD biomarkers, suggesting association with pathology in AD.