Relation Between Frontal Alpha Asymmetry and Anxiety in Young Patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Frontal alpha asymmetry (the relative difference in power between two signals in different hemispheres) has been suggested as biomarker for anxiety. The goal of this study was to evaluate alpha asymmetry in the frontal region for young people (7-18 years) with generalized anxiety disorder, diagnosed according to two statistic manuals (DMS-IV-R and ICD-10), the medical history and the neuropsychological assessment. The QEEG recording and analysis of the obtained results from alpha spectra power and log of alpha spectra power are made in four conditions (eyes open, eyes closed, VCPT and ACPT). The obtained results for alpha power in general showed higher cortical activity in the right hemisphere, associated with negative emotions. The calculated alpha asymmetry separate for eyes open, eyes closed, VCPT and ACPT conditions showed the right activation in all four conditions. In addition, the right frontal asymmetry was specific for the Fp₁-Fp₂ region, while a greater left frontal activation was recorded for the F₇-F₈ region. The log of alpha power in general was additionally analyzed. The calculated asymmetry score in general (in a way that the left log transformed score was subtracted from the right) confirmed a greater right activation. Testing the power of the whole alpha band (μV²) in general, for all four conditions and for frontal region confirmed the right alpha asymmetries in all participants. The right alpha asymmetry in the frontal region was specific only for the Fp₁-Fp₂ region (frontopolar region). The only greater left frontal activation was registered between the F₇-F₈ region. Our findings are supported by many other studies using specific localization methods like fMRI or LORETA source localization.