Classification of autism spectrum disorder using electroencephalography in Chinese children: a cross-sectional retrospective study

Front Neurosci. 2024 Jan 25:18:1330556. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1330556. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition characterized by diverse clinical features. EEG biomarkers such as spectral power and functional connectivity have emerged as potential tools for enhancing early diagnosis and understanding of the neural processes underlying ASD. However, existing studies yield conflicting results, necessitating a comprehensive, data-driven analysis. We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study involving 246 children with ASD and 42 control children. EEG was collected, and diverse EEG features, including spectral power and spectral coherence were extracted. Statistical inference methods, coupled with machine learning models, were employed to identify differences in EEG features between ASD and control groups and develop classification models for diagnostic purposes. Our analysis revealed statistically significant differences in spectral coherence, particularly in gamma and beta frequency bands, indicating elevated long range functional connectivity between frontal and parietal regions in the ASD group. Machine learning models achieved modest classification performance of ROC-AUC at 0.65. While machine learning approaches offer some discriminative power classifying individuals with ASD from controls, they also indicate the need for further refinement.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder; coherence; electroencephalography; functional connectivity; machine learning; spectral power.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The data collection part of the study was funded by Hubei Province Natural Science Foundation, grant number 2012FFA064. The data analysis part of the study was funded by Massachusetts General Hospital, grant number 233263.