Kim Jinuk, Hahn Sang-Woo, Warburton Wayne, Hwang Jaeuk, Kim Minjae, Lee Minji, Lee Kiwon, Lee Yeon Jung
Institute for Basic Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
Department of Psychiatry, Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital, College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Psychiatry Investig. 2025 Oct;22(10):1153-1163. doi: 10.30773/pi.2025.0047. Epub 2025 Oct 2.
Although depression is a common comorbidity in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), its neurophysiological relationship according to each symptom has rarely been explored. This study aimed to inform clinical practice by exploring the neurophysiological underpinnings of depression comorbidity in ADHD.
We conducted a cross-sectional study of 87 children with ADHD (68 males). Resting quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) recordings were collected with eyes closed. We used various questionnaires to evaluate ADHD symptoms severity, depression, and anxiety. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to investigate the relationship between the z-score relative spectral power of qEEG and each psychological symptom. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 27.0.
The study's findings indicated that theta activity at the frontal, central, and parietal locations had a negative correlation with the severity of ADHD symptoms in children diagnosed with ADHD. In contrast, alpha activity in these same regions demonstrated a positive correlation with ADHD symptom severity. Additionally, delta activity in the regions was negatively correlated with depression severity.
These findings suggest that alpha and theta activity might serve as a reliable neurophysiological marker of ADHD symptom severity, while delta activity might function as a reliable biological marker of depression severity in children with ADHD. However, further research is needed to generalize the results of this study.
尽管抑郁症是注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）儿童中常见的共病，但根据每种症状探讨其神经生理学关系的研究却很少。本研究旨在通过探索ADHD中共病抑郁症的神经生理学基础，为临床实践提供参考。
我们对87名ADHD儿童（68名男性）进行了横断面研究。在闭眼状态下收集静息定量脑电图（qEEG）记录。我们使用各种问卷来评估ADHD症状的严重程度、抑郁和焦虑情况。采用Pearson相关系数来研究qEEG的z分数相对谱功率与每种心理症状之间的关系。使用IBM SPSS 27.0对数据进行分析。
研究结果表明，在被诊断为ADHD的儿童中，额叶、中央和顶叶部位的θ波活动与ADHD症状的严重程度呈负相关。相反，这些相同区域的α波活动与ADHD症状严重程度呈正相关。此外，这些区域的δ波活动与抑郁严重程度呈负相关。
这些发现表明，α波和θ波活动可能是ADHD症状严重程度的可靠神经生理学标志物，而δ波活动可能是ADHD儿童抑郁严重程度的可靠生物学标志物。然而，需要进一步的研究来推广本研究的结果。
