Physiological measurement
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Physiological measurement · May 2009
Neurodevelopment in newborns: a sample entropy analysis of electroencephalogram.
The present paper investigates the neural ontogeny of newborns in view of electroencephalogram (EEG) complexity during active sleep (AS) and quiet sleep (QS). Sample entropy (SampEn) is applied to EEG recordings from 168 newborns with postmenstrual age (PMA) ranging from 25 to 60 weeks. The relationship between neurodevelopment and PMA is then explored according to the statistical analysis of the median and interquartile range of SampEn curves. ⋯ The significance of this paper is the discovery of the decrease in EEG complexity after newborns reaching term. Although some potential neurophysiologic reasons are given, this new discovery might require more study to investigate. In addition, the fluctuation of EEG complexity is analyzed for the first time, which helps to understand the EEG maturation in neurodevelopment.