UCLA

Neuroimaging data has proven to be a useful biomarker for clinical outcomes in antidepressant treatment. Changes in quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) measures such as delta-theta/alpha (DT/A) ratio and regional theta cordance have been associated with clinical improvement in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). The relationship between changes in these measures after one week of treatment and remission or response was examined in a large cohort of subjects from the EMBARC study who received either placebo (N = 92) or sertraline (N = 86) treatment. A Week 1 decrease in central theta cordance from an 18-channel montage was associated with response in sertraline-treated subjects, but not placebo-treated subjects. However, neither DT/A ratio nor prefrontal theta cordance from a 30-channel montage were predictive of remission or response in this dataset. These findings suggest that Week 1 changes in central theta cordance may serve as a biomarker for sertraline outcome in MDD patients.