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The effects of age and gender on sleep EEG power spectral density in the middle years of life (ages 20–60 years old)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2001

JULIE CARRIER ,
STEPHANIE LAND ,
DANIEL J. BUYSSE ,
DAVID J. KUPFER  and
TIMOTHY H. MONK
JULIE CARRIER
Affiliation:
Sleep and Chronobiology Center, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh PA, USA
STEPHANIE LAND
Affiliation:
Department of Biostatistics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
DANIEL J. BUYSSE
Affiliation:
Sleep and Chronobiology Center, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh PA, USA
DAVID J. KUPFER
Affiliation:
Sleep and Chronobiology Center, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh PA, USA
TIMOTHY H. MONK
Affiliation:
Sleep and Chronobiology Center, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh PA, USA
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Abstract

The effects of age and gender on sleep EEG power spectral density were assessed in a group of 100 subjects aged 20 to 60 years. We propose a new statistical strategy (mixed-model using fixed-knot regression splines) to analyze quantitative EEG measures. The effect of gender varied according to frequency, but no interactions emerged between age and gender, suggesting that the aging process does not differentially influence men and women. Women had higher power density than men in delta, theta, low alpha, and high spindle frequency range. The effect of age varied according to frequency and across the night. The decrease in power with age was not restricted to slow-wave activity, but also included theta and sigma activity. With increasing age, the attenuation over the night in power density between 1.25 and 8.00 Hz diminished, and the rise in power between 12.25 and 14.00 Hz across the night decreased. Increasing age was associated with higher power in the beta range. These results suggest that increasing age may be related to an attenuation of homeostatic sleep pressure and to an increase in cortical activation during sleep.

Keywords

Sleepagingmiddle agespectral analysisquantitative analysiselectroencephalogram
Type
Research Article
Information
Psychophysiology , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , March 2001 , pp. 232 - 242
Copyright
2001 Society for Psychophysiological Research

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