Kathrin Bothe, Michael A Hahn, Ines Wilhelm, Kerstin Hoedlmoser
Laboratory for Sleep, Cognition and Consciousness Research, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
Translational Psychiatry Unit (TPU), Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
J Psychiatr Res. 2021 Mar;135:302-310. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.01.027. Epub 2021 Jan 21.
Internalizing problems are characterized by deficits in emotion processing and regulation. They are among the most common problems in children and adolescents and mark an increased risk for depressive and anxiety disorders in later life. First evidence suggests that sleep alterations are related to the development and/or persistence of mood and anxiety disorders in children, adolescents, and adults. Most recently, data from clinical samples showed that brain activity in the sigma frequency band (9-16 Hz, i.e. sleep spindle frequency) is associated with internalizing problems in children and adolescents. However, less is known about the association between sigma power and internalizing problems in healthy participants within this age group. Here, we re-analyzed longitudinal data (25 healthy subjects (18 females) at two time points (T1: childhood mean age: 9.52 ± 0.77; T2: adolescence mean age: 16.08 ± 0.91) by correlating sigma power with measures for internalizing problems. Moreover, we calculated sigma power ratios (frontal/central, frontal/parietal, frontal/occipital) to examine whether these measures would reflect developmental changes more accurately. We found that higher values of internalizing problems at T1 were related to a lower decrease in sigma power from T1 to T2 at frontal and central derivations. Furthermore, higher values of internalizing problems at T1 as well as at T2 were related to higher sigma power ratios at T2. We suggest that sigma power may reflect maturational processes (e.g. network efficiency, integrity) related to the development of internalizing problems. In particular, a stronger decrease in frontal sigma power from childhood to adolescence may indicate a healthier development. Thus, our results emphasize the role of sigma power as a useful marker for internalizing problems during adolescence.
内化问题的特征是情绪处理和调节方面的缺陷。它们是儿童和青少年中最常见的问题之一，标志着日后患抑郁症和焦虑症的风险增加。初步证据表明，睡眠改变与儿童、青少年和成年人情绪及焦虑症的发生和/或持续存在有关。最近，临床样本数据显示，西格玛频段（9 - 16赫兹，即睡眠纺锤波频率）的大脑活动与儿童和青少年的内化问题有关。然而，对于该年龄组健康参与者中西格玛功率与内化问题之间的关联了解较少。在此，我们通过将西格玛功率与内化问题的测量指标进行关联，重新分析了纵向数据（25名健康受试者（18名女性）在两个时间点（T1：儿童期，平均年龄：9.52 ± 0.77；T2：青少年期，平均年龄：16.08 ± 0.91）的数据）。此外，我们计算了西格玛功率比值（额叶/中央、额叶/顶叶、额叶/枕叶），以检验这些指标是否能更准确地反映发育变化。我们发现，T1时内化问题得分较高与额叶和中央导联从T1到T2的西格玛功率下降幅度较小有关。此外，T1以及T2时内化问题得分较高与T2时较高的西格玛功率比值有关。我们认为，西格玛功率可能反映了与内化问题发展相关的成熟过程（如网络效率、完整性）。特别是，从儿童期到青少年期额叶西格玛功率的更强下降可能表明更健康的发育。因此，我们的结果强调了西格玛功率作为青少年期内化问题有用标志物的作用。
