Chmiel James, Nadobnik Jarosław, Smerdel Szymon, Niedzielska Mirela
Faculty of Physical Culture and Health, Institute of Physical Culture Sciences, University of Szczecin, Al. Piastów 40B Blok 6, 71-065 Szczecin, Poland.
School of Sports Championschips, FASE-Football Academy School of Excellence, 71-241 Szczecin, Poland.
J Clin Med. 2025 Aug 21;14(16):5902. doi: 10.3390/jcm14165902.
Learning disabilities (LD) compromise academic achievement in approximately 5-10% of school-aged children, yet the neurophysiological signatures that could facilitate earlier detection or stratification remain poorly defined. Resting-state electroencephalography (rs-EEG) offers millisecond resolution and is cost-effective, but its findings have never been synthesized systematically across pediatric LD cohorts. Following a PROSPERO-registered protocol (CRD420251087821) and adhering to PRISMA 2020 guidelines, we searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, and PsycINFO through 31 March 2025 for peer-reviewed studies that recorded eyes-open or eyes-closed rs-EEG using ≥ 4 scalp electrodes in children (≤18 years) formally diagnosed with LD, and compared the results with typically developing peers or normative databases. Four reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias using ROBINS-I. Seventeen studies (704 children with LD; 620 controls) met the inclusion criteria. The overall risk of bias was moderate, primarily due to small clinic-based samples and inconsistent control for confounding variables. Three consistent electrophysiological patterns emerged: (i) a 20-60% increase in delta/theta power over mesial-frontal, fronto-central and left peri-Sylvian cortices, resulting in markedly elevated θ/α and θ/β ratios; (ii) blunting or anterior displacement of the posterior alpha rhythm, particularly in language-critical temporo-parietal regions; and (iii) developmentally immature connectivity, characterized by widespread slow-band hypercoherence alongside hypo-connected upper-alpha networks linking left-hemisphere language hubs to posterior sensory areas. These abnormalities were correlated with reading, writing, and IQ scores and, in two longitudinal cohorts, they partially normalized in parallel with academic improvement. Furthermore, a link between reduced posterior/overall alpha and neuroinflammation has been found. Rs-EEG reveals a robust yet heterogeneous electrophysiological profile of pediatric LD, supporting a hybrid model that combines maturational delay with persistent circuit-level atypicalities in some children. While current evidence suggests that rs-EEG features show promise as potential biomarkers for LD detection and subtyping, these findings remain preliminary. Definitive clinical translation will require multi-site, dense-array longitudinal studies employing harmonized pipelines, integration with MRI and genetics, and the inclusion of EEG metrics in intervention trials.
学习障碍（LD）影响着大约5%至10%学龄儿童的学业成绩，然而，能够促进早期检测或分层的神经生理学特征仍未明确界定。静息态脑电图（rs-EEG）具有毫秒级分辨率且成本效益高，但其研究结果从未在儿科LD队列中进行系统综合。遵循PROSPERO注册协议（CRD420251087821）并遵守PRISMA 2020指南，我们检索了截至2025年3月31日的PubMed、Embase、Web of Science、Scopus和PsycINFO，以查找对正式诊断为LD的儿童（≤18岁）使用≥4个头皮电极记录睁眼或闭眼rs-EEG的同行评审研究，并将结果与发育正常的同龄人或规范数据库进行比较。四名评审员独立筛选标题和摘要，提取数据，并使用ROBINS-I评估偏倚风险。17项研究（704名LD儿童；620名对照）符合纳入标准。总体偏倚风险为中度，主要原因是基于诊所的样本量小以及对混杂变量的控制不一致。出现了三种一致的电生理模式：（i）内侧额叶、额中央和左侧颞叶周围皮质的δ/θ功率增加20%至60%，导致θ/α和θ/β比率显著升高；（ii）后α节律变钝或前移，尤其是在对语言至关重要的颞顶叶区域；（iii）发育不成熟的连接性，其特征是广泛的慢波超相干以及连接左半球语言中枢与后感觉区域的低连接上α网络。这些异常与阅读、写作和智商分数相关，并且在两个纵向队列中，它们随着学业进步而部分恢复正常。此外，还发现后α/总α降低与神经炎症之间存在联系。Rs-EEG揭示了儿科LD强大但异质的电生理特征，支持一种混合模型，该模型将成熟延迟与一些儿童持续存在的电路水平异常相结合。虽然目前的证据表明rs-EEG特征有望作为LD检测和亚型分类的潜在生物标志物，但这些发现仍然是初步的。明确的临床转化将需要采用统一流程的多中心、密集阵列纵向研究，与MRI和遗传学相结合，并在干预试验中纳入脑电图指标。
