Describing Brain Activity of Persons With AD and Depressive Symptoms

The purpose of this retrospective pilot study was to characterize depression of AD using electrophysiological changes in the brain activity of persons with AD and depressive symptoms. Participants had a mean age of 70.12 ± 12.68. Participants manifested an increase in absolute/relative theta activity (p = .000) over entire brain when compared to normative population-based database. Electrophysiological changes did not differ by age or gender except for increased absolute theta activity in the right lateral frontal areas (t-test = − 2.31 to − 2.39, p = .04) in females. An increased theta activity suggests that depressive symptoms may be part of AD symptomatology, not a co-morbid feature.