The Value of QEEG Prefrontal Theta Cordance in the Prediction of Response to Various Antidepressants

s Neuropsychobiology 2018/2019;77:119–162 DOI: 10.1159/000496817 135 from healthy controls with moderate to large effect sizes (d = 0.45– 0.84). In patients only, HRV decreased overall from unmedicated to medicated state after controlling for age and gender. Furthermore, a multiple linear regression model revealed significant predictors, which accounted for 64.4% of the variance in the variable depressive symptom change (from baseline to endpoint assessment). An increase in REM latency, a decrease in PSQI and relative Very Low Frequency power in REM sleep (REM-VLFrel) predicted the improvement in HAM-D scores. The reduction of REM-VLFrel even showed a positive prediction value of 81.13%. Implications: While sleep-stage-related HRV is already lower in MDD before AD treatment than in healthy controls, AD treatment has an additional HRV suppressing effect, which is most prominent in VLF-power in REM sleep. Remarkably, this AD effect after one week of treatment is predictive to treatment response at week 4.