Brain, interrupted: alpha/delta EEG ratio in survivors of pre- and post-natal adversity

Abstract

Objective: Does exposure to prenatal and postnatal adversity have the same long-term effects on brain development in humans?

Methods: We examined whether these two types of exposures differed from their demographically matched controls on a frontal EEG alpha/delta ratio score, a proxy of brain maturation.

Results

Young adults born at extremely low birth weight (prenatal adversity; N = 64, M_age = 23.14 years, SD_age = 1.26 years) had a lower alpha/delta ratio score compared to normal birth weight controls (N = 76, M_age = 23.60 years, SD_age = 1.09 years), while youth exposed to child maltreatment (postnatal adversity; N = 39, M_age = 16.18 years, SD_age = 1.15) had a higher alpha/delta ratio compared to controls (N = 23, M_age = 16.00 years, SD_age = 1.50 years).

Conclusions

Our results suggest that being exposed to pre- and post-natal adversity may have different long-term consequences on brain development. We speculate that these differences might be associated with some of the different functional outcomes known to characterize each type of adverse experience.

Keywords:

• Development
• EEG
• Maltreatment
• ELBW

Acknowledgements

The present study was supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Vanier Doctoral Scholarship awarded to RH and an Independent Investigator Award from NARSAD and the Charles Johnson Charitable Fund awarded to HLM. Further support was provided by the CIHR Institutes of Gender and Health; Aging; Human Development, Child and Youth Health; Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction; and Population and Public Health awarded to HLM, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada awarded to LAS, and operating grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research awarded to LAS and SS and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant awarded to SS. We are also very grateful to the Hamilton and Halton Children's Aid Society, the Hamilton Catholic Children's Aid Society. We thank Lindsay Bennett, Nicole Folland, Paz Fortier, Karen Mathewson, Sue McKee, Vladimir Miskovic, Sylvia Nowakowski, Caroline Parkin, Diane Santesso, Masako Tanaka, Emily Vella, Jordana Waxman, and Shirien Yunus for their help with data collection and entry.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).