Background: Accumulating evidence showed abnormalities in brain network connectivity in depressive individuals with suicidal ideation (SI). We aimed to investigate the large-scale brain network dynamics in adolescents with SI and major depressive disorder (MDD).
Methods: We recruited 47 first-episode drug-naïve adolescents with MDD and SI, 26 depressed adolescents without SI (noSI), and 26 age-matched healthy controls (HC). The Columbia Suicidal Ideation Severity Scale (C-SSRS) was utilized to assess suicide ideation. We acquired 64-channel resting-state EEG recordings from all subjects and used microstate analysis to investigate the large-scale brain network dynamics.
Results: We observed a significant reduction in the occurrence and coverage of microstate B within the SI group when contrasted with the noSI group. Conversely, there was a significant increase in the occurrence and coverage of microstate A in the SI group as compared to the HC group. Additionally, we observed heightened transition probabilities from microstates D and C to microstate A in the SI group; meanwhile, transitions from microstate D to B were more prevalent in the noSI group. Furthermore, the noSI group exhibited a significant decline in the transition probabilities from microstate D to microstate C.
Limitations: The cross-sectional nature limits the capacity to determine whether microstate dynamics have prognostic significance for SI.
Conclusion: We provided evidence that depressed adolescents with SI have a distinct pattern in microstate dynamics compared to those without SI. These findings suggest that microstate dynamics might serve as a potential neurobiomarker for identifying SI in depressed adolescents.
Keywords: Adolescents; EEG microstates; Major depressive disorder; Suicidal ideation.
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