Individual stability of single-channel EEG measures over one year in healthy adults
Abstract The clinical applicability of electroencephalography (EEG) relies on the reliability and temporal stability of its measures. While the reliability of linear EEG measures is well established, the long-term stability of both linear and nonlinear measures at the individual level, as well as in...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-13614-y |
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| author | Tuuli Uudeberg Laura Päeske Hiie Hinrikus Jaanus Lass Toomas Põld Maie Bachmann |
| author_facet | Tuuli Uudeberg Laura Päeske Hiie Hinrikus Jaanus Lass Toomas Põld Maie Bachmann |
| author_sort | Tuuli Uudeberg |
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| description | Abstract The clinical applicability of electroencephalography (EEG) relies on the reliability and temporal stability of its measures. While the reliability of linear EEG measures is well established, the long-term stability of both linear and nonlinear measures at the individual level, as well as interindividual variability, remains underexplored. This study evaluated the one-year stability of EEG absolute band powers (theta, alpha, beta, and gamma) and nonlinear measures (Higuchi’s fractal dimension, Lempel–Ziv complexity, detrended fluctuation analysis, and in-phase Matrix Profile) across 12 monthly EEG recordings in nine healthy males aged 26–49. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) indicated excellent reliability across all measures, although beta power showed slightly reduced ICCs in temporal regions and gamma power demonstrated lower reliability in peripheral sites. At the individual level, nonlinear measures showed greater temporal stability than EEG band powers. Although a few individuals, particularly in band power measures, exhibited annual fluctuations comparable to or exceeding interindividual variability, most participants demonstrated consistent EEG profiles over time. These findings support the use of nonlinear EEG measures in longitudinal research and indicate their potential for developing personalized EEG-based neural biomarkers. They also highlight the importance of estimating expected individual variability when designing individualized monitoring approaches, as high reliability at the group level does not preclude substantial within-subject variability in some cases. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-97472dc8bbc24bd1aa4d583f178ff3b4 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
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| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-97472dc8bbc24bd1aa4d583f178ff3b42025-08-20T04:02:46ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-08-0115111410.1038/s41598-025-13614-yIndividual stability of single-channel EEG measures over one year in healthy adultsTuuli Uudeberg0Laura Päeske1Hiie Hinrikus2Jaanus Lass3Toomas Põld4Maie Bachmann5Biosignal Processing Laboratory, Department of Health Technologies, School of Information Technologies, Tallinn University of TechnologyBiosignal Processing Laboratory, Department of Health Technologies, School of Information Technologies, Tallinn University of TechnologyBiosignal Processing Laboratory, Department of Health Technologies, School of Information Technologies, Tallinn University of TechnologyBiosignal Processing Laboratory, Department of Health Technologies, School of Information Technologies, Tallinn University of TechnologyBiosignal Processing Laboratory, Department of Health Technologies, School of Information Technologies, Tallinn University of TechnologyBiosignal Processing Laboratory, Department of Health Technologies, School of Information Technologies, Tallinn University of TechnologyAbstract The clinical applicability of electroencephalography (EEG) relies on the reliability and temporal stability of its measures. While the reliability of linear EEG measures is well established, the long-term stability of both linear and nonlinear measures at the individual level, as well as interindividual variability, remains underexplored. This study evaluated the one-year stability of EEG absolute band powers (theta, alpha, beta, and gamma) and nonlinear measures (Higuchi’s fractal dimension, Lempel–Ziv complexity, detrended fluctuation analysis, and in-phase Matrix Profile) across 12 monthly EEG recordings in nine healthy males aged 26–49. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) indicated excellent reliability across all measures, although beta power showed slightly reduced ICCs in temporal regions and gamma power demonstrated lower reliability in peripheral sites. At the individual level, nonlinear measures showed greater temporal stability than EEG band powers. Although a few individuals, particularly in band power measures, exhibited annual fluctuations comparable to or exceeding interindividual variability, most participants demonstrated consistent EEG profiles over time. These findings support the use of nonlinear EEG measures in longitudinal research and indicate their potential for developing personalized EEG-based neural biomarkers. They also highlight the importance of estimating expected individual variability when designing individualized monitoring approaches, as high reliability at the group level does not preclude substantial within-subject variability in some cases.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-13614-y |
| spellingShingle | Tuuli Uudeberg Laura Päeske Hiie Hinrikus Jaanus Lass Toomas Põld Maie Bachmann Individual stability of single-channel EEG measures over one year in healthy adults Scientific Reports |
| title | Individual stability of single-channel EEG measures over one year in healthy adults |
| title_full | Individual stability of single-channel EEG measures over one year in healthy adults |
| title_fullStr | Individual stability of single-channel EEG measures over one year in healthy adults |
| title_full_unstemmed | Individual stability of single-channel EEG measures over one year in healthy adults |
| title_short | Individual stability of single-channel EEG measures over one year in healthy adults |
| title_sort | individual stability of single channel eeg measures over one year in healthy adults |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-13614-y |
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