EEG biomarkers are alluring for their relative cheapness and ubiquity—except most EEG indices of AD risk have been subtle, ambiguous, or confounded by sleep quality itself. This study sharpens focus on “wake” slow waves: sleep-like phenomena in eyes-open EEG that appear diminished in people with amyloid and neurodegeneration on PET, and that, intriguingly, predicted later amyloid conversion in a subset initially deemed negative. The clinical upshot isn’t instantly actionable—nobody’s scheduling anti-amyloid infusions based on EEG yet—but the potential exists for a non-invasive risk flag ahead of cognitive symptoms, if replication holds.
Wake EEG Slow Waves: A Glimpse Into Preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease?
Can slow waves detected on resting EEG—outside of sleep—serve as accessible, early markers of amyloid pathology and neurodegeneration risk in Alzheimer’s disease?