SEEG 4–13 Hz peak height increased with age after pair-level location adjustment in 256 adults

In 261 epilepsy patients aged 18–64 years from the RAM SEEG cohort, we tested whether the reported age increase in 4–13 Hz spectral peak height persisted after pair-level electrode-location adjustment. We reanalyzed archived 0.5 Hz bipolar log10 spectra from 60 s at the start of a memory task; no new signal data were read. Peak height was the maximum smoothed residual above an aperiodic fit. A cubic model of standardized MNI |x|, y, and z coordinates was fit to 27,974 pairs (R² = 0.095); subject values were median pair residuals. The primary partial Spearman association remained positive (n = 256, rho = +0.304, 95% CI +0.177 to +0.415, permutation p = 0.0002), similar to the unadjusted association (+0.296). Implant-position measures had no significant association with age. By MNI-y terciles, associations were positive in the middle (rho = +0.277, Holm p = 0.0006) and posterior zones (rho = +0.267, Holm p = 0.0008), but not the anterior zone (rho = +0.087, 95% CI −0.055 to +0.231, p = 0.20). A post hoc posterior-minus-anterior contrast increased with age (n = 198, rho = +0.205, p = 0.0032) and requires confirmation. These findings indicate that pair location did not explain the age association within the cubic MNI model. The cohort had epilepsy, recordings were task-state rather than rest, SOZ contacts were retained, MNI coordinates are an imperfect anatomy proxy, and no independent cohort was tested.

SEEG · spectral peak height · age · electrode location · MNI · partial Spearman correlation · RAM · epilepsy · memory task