Some EEG Findings in Old Age and Their Relationship to Affective Disorder

Abstract

The significance of the electro-encephalographic variations found in old age is not well defined and hence the value of this form of investigation as a prognostic measure is doubtful. Apart from a few papers such as Mengoli (1952), Mundy-Castle et al. (1954) and Obrist (1954), most of the published work contains no reference to findings obtained from a control series of persons of similar age and not suffering from a definite disability. This absence of definite criteria in respect of the EEG findings in records taken from apparently healthy elderly persons is important both as regards clear-cut abnormalities and also in reference to minor variations of doubtful significance.