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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Neuropediatrics 2024; 55(04): 241-249
DOI: 10.1055/a-2262-7781
Original Article

Reduced Interhemispheric Coherence and Cognition in Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)—A Quantitative EEG Study

Thorsten Gerstner
1   Department of Pediatrics, Regional Competence for Children with Prenatal Alcohol/Drug Exposure, Sørlandet Hospital, Arendal, Norway
2   Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
,
Oliver Henning
3   National Centre for Epilepsy, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
,
Gro Løhaugen
1   Department of Pediatrics, Regional Competence for Children with Prenatal Alcohol/Drug Exposure, Sørlandet Hospital, Arendal, Norway
,
Jon Skranes
1   Department of Pediatrics, Regional Competence for Children with Prenatal Alcohol/Drug Exposure, Sørlandet Hospital, Arendal, Norway
2   Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
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Abstract

Background Magnetic resonance imaging in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) children showed altered connectivity, suggesting underlying deficits in networks, which may be related to cognitive outcome. Functional connectivity has been of interest in neurophysiological research with quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) as useful tool for measuring pathology, not detectable by normal EEG. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in the EEG interhemispheric coherence (ICoh) in children diagnosed with FASD compared with healthy controls and to relate the results to cognitive scores.

Method Analysis of ICoh in 81 FASD children (4-Digit Code) compared with 31 controls. The children underwent cognitive assessment, and EEG was performed and used for analysis. Group comparisons and analysis of covariance interaction models were used to test for differences between FASD and controls but also to look for differences between FASD subgroups. Significant findings were correlated to cognitive scores.

Results Lower ICoh was found in the frontal and temporal derivations in the FASD group. When comparing FASD subgroups, children with fetal alcohol syndrome had lower ICoh occipital. Reduced ICoh in the temporal alpha band was correlated with lower performance IQ in the FASD group.

Conclusion Our findings could imply hypoconnectivity between the hemispheres with impact on cognition. We suggest that EEG coherence analysis could be a sensitive parameter in the detection of electrophysiological abnormalities in FASD with possible clinical relevance. These results may indicate that QEEG could be used as biomarker for FASD. However, further research is needed to determine the role of QEEG analysis in the diagnosis of FASD.

Keywords

fetal alcohol syndrome - fetal alcohol spectrum disorder - QEEG - interhemispheric coherence - epilepsy - ADHD - cognition


Publication History

Received: 12 December 2023

Accepted: 22 January 2024

Accepted Manuscript online:
06 February 2024

Article published online:
06 March 2024

© 2024. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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