ALTERED CEREBRAL ENERGY-UTILIZATION IN LATE-LIFE DEPRESSION

Background: Global and regional changes in cerebral energy utilization are reported to characterize late life depression. Methods: Twenty se ven subjects with late life depression (9 prior to starting medication , 18 after starting) and 27 matched controls were evaluated with corda nce, a quantitative EEG measure that reflects cerebral energy utilizat ion. Results: Global and focal (anterior and centrotemporal) differenc es were present in theta-band cordance between unmedicated depressed a nd control subjects. Depressed subjects receiving treatment had cordan ce patterns similar to controls. Conclusions: The presence of both dif fuse and focal disturbances in energy utilization prior to initiating treatment indicates that cordance detects altered cerebral physiology in depressed patients, and that this measure may also be sensitive to treatment interventions. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.