In 43 SEEG patients, age did not predict sleep-feature SOZ separation or explain lower Detroit HFA separation

In archived per-patient features from 43 patients with epilepsy, age (0–45 years) had no detectable association with seizure-onset-zone (SOZ) separation by sleep high-frequency activity (HFA, 80–300 Hz log power; Spearman rho = 0.105, 95% CI −0.237 to 0.430, Holm-adjusted p = 0.50) or slow-wave phase modulation of HFA amplitude (modulation index, MI; rho = −0.183, 95% CI −0.502 to 0.151, Holm-adjusted p = 0.48). Detroit cohorts had lower HFA separation than external cohorts (mean AUC 0.54 vs 0.76; difference −0.218, p = 0.017); adjustment for age left the difference similar (−0.228, p = 0.026), with a near-zero age coefficient (−0.0009 per year, p = 0.82). In a secondary 90-second segment, MI separation decreased with age (rho = −0.354, uncorrected p = 0.020), but this was not significant in the primary segment or the A+B mean. The evidence does not establish an age effect. The sample was small (n = 43), age and center were confounded, and each patient contributed 90 seconds of NREM sleep. The study reanalysed archived features and did not repeat feature extraction.

SEEG · epilepsy · seizure-onset zone · high-frequency activity · slow-wave coupling · age · AUC · NREM sleep