Electroencephalographic complexity markers explain neuropsychological test scores in Alzheimer´s disease

We investigated the correlation of Alzheimer´s disease (AD) severity as measured by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) to the signal complexity measures auto-mutual information, Shannon entropy and Tsallis entropy in 79 patients with probable AD from the multi-centric Prospective Dementia Database Austria (PRODEM). Using quadratic (linear) regressions, auto-mutual information explained up to 48% (43%), Shannon entropy up to 48% (37%) and Tsallis entropy up to 49% (35%) of the variations in MMSE scores, all at left temporal (T7) electrode site. The steepest slope of the linear regression was found for auto-mutual information (Δy/Δx = 36). For Shannon and Tsallis entropy, slopes were less steep. Comparing to traditional slowing measures, complexity measures yielded higher coefficients of determination. We conclude that auto-mutual information is well suited to characterize disease severity in mild to moderate AD.