Psychophysiology, 2019, 56, S118. [Paper presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Society of Psychophysiological Research (SPR) in Washington, DC, September 25-29, 2018.]
Posterior EEG alpha and personal importance of religion/spirituality as predictors of depression severity in families at risk for depression
Lidia Y.X. Wonga, Craig E. Tenkea,b, Connie Svoba,b, Piya Wickramaratnea,b, Marc J. Gameroffa,b, Myrna M. Weissmana,b, Gerard E. Bruderb, Jürgen Kaysera,b
aNew York State Psychiatric Institute, Departments of Cognitive Neuroscience and Translational Epidemiology, New York, NY, USA; bColumbia University, Department of Psychiatry, New York, NY, USA
Abstract
In a longitudinal study of families at risk for depression, risk for and lifetime history of major depressive disorder (MDD) have been linked to greater posterior EEG alpha, a biomarker of clinical outcome. Separately, personal importance of religion and spirituality (RS) has been shown to provide protective benefits for persons at high risk for MDD. Given our prior findings showing stable associations between EEG alpha and RS (Tenke et al 2013, 2017), we aimed to directly explore the interaction between posterior alpha and RS on a clinical health outcome measure of depression. Introducing a novel mixed-effects model approach, we obtained individual estimates of RS importance at age 21 using data collected at 5 different timepoints spanning 25 years. Existing resting 72-channel EEG, previously quantified via Current Source Density and frequency Principal Component Analysis, was used to provide posterior alpha amplitude estimates. Depression severity was measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) about 5 years after EEG collection. Supporting prior findings, greater RS importance and greater EEG alpha predicted lower PHQ. An interaction between alpha and RS importance indicated that higher alpha levels amplified the difference in RS importance on depressive symptoms. Additional interactions with risk for and lifetime history of MDD revealed a complex interrelationship of these variables. Although effect sizes were small, these findings suggest a compounded association of posterior alpha and RS importance that may together afford a protective mechanism for MDD.
Key Words: Depression risk; EEG alpha; Religion/spirituality
[Supported by grants from NIMH (MH036197) and the John Templeton Foundation (#54679 and #61330)].
