Multichannel (19) EEG were analyzed in 23 female patients with rather
advanced late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) and compared with 56 age-
and sex-matched healthy control subjects. The quantified EEG was corr
elated with psychometric and clinical variables. The control subjects
showed increasing theta activity with age but the EEG changes did not
correlate significantly with psychometric features. The AD patients sh
owed highly significant increases in delta and theta activity and decr
eases in beta activity compared with controls. The EEG changes were mo
st marked over posterior regions of the brain. The individual EEG vari
ables showed a high degree of intercorrelation and an almost complete
discrimination between patients and controls was accomplished by takin
g only the posterior delta activity into account. In a subgroup of 10
patients, in which a Mini Mental test score could be obtained, the sco
re correlated with the relative theta power.