Traumatic Brain Injury Assessment: Sensitivity and Specificity with Inclusion of QEEG Parameters

Abstract

Addressing issues with sensitivity and specificity in TBI assessment this study compared the performance on neuropsychological tests and results from qEEG assessment between a heterogeneous TBI (N=20) group and a matched normal control group (N=20). The TBI group was performed worse on all measures. Significant differences in performance were found in the domains of information processing speed and executive function. Effect sizes of these differences were large. This was also true for the amplitude of the qEEG parameter P3NoGo along with P3Go latency and theta power in the temporal and frontal lobes. Binary logistic regression revealed higher sensitivity and specificity when combining neuropsychological tests and qEEG parameters, suggesting qEEG parameters in  combination with neuropsychological tests to be good assets in TBI assessment.