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Some Neurophysiological Correlates of Changed Mental States after Delivery: I. EEG Characteristics

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Abstract

A group of parturient women was divided on the basis of a special psychological poll into subgroups with a high (changed mental state, CMS) and low (unchanged mental state, UMS) number of signs of changes in the mental state during and after delivery. The background EEG was recorded in 16 monopolar leads before and after delivery. EEG processing included the calculation of indices of the basic rhythms, the parameters of auto- and cross-correlation functions, and the conditional probabilities of the mutual transitions of the EEG wave components that belong to the basic rhythm components according to their duration. Statistical comparison of the EEG characteristics of the subgroups, as well as their comparison with similar characteristics of the reference group of healthy nulliparous women, showed that the subgroups differed significantly in some parameters; the difference were generalized by lead zones. As a rule, the EEG characteristics of the CMS subgroup differed from those of the reference group more than those of the UMS subgroup. The differences between the CMS and UMS subgroups testify to some imbalance of the regulatory mechanisms in the former with the predominance of excitation at the predelivery stage and a more manifest physiological cerebral reaction to the delivery.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of the Human Brain, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia

    L. I. Spivak, S. G. Dan'ko & D. L. Spivak

  2. I.P. Pavlov State Medical University, St. Petersburg, Russia

    T. G. Medvedeva

  3. Ott Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia

    V. M. Bolotskikh

  4. St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia

    M. V. Borodavkina

Authors
  1. L. I. Spivak
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  2. S. G. Dan'ko
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  3. D. L. Spivak
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  4. T. G. Medvedeva
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  5. V. M. Bolotskikh
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  6. M. V. Borodavkina
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Spivak, L.I., Dan'ko, S.G., Spivak, D.L. et al. Some Neurophysiological Correlates of Changed Mental States after Delivery: I. EEG Characteristics. Human Physiology 27, 42–47 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007155323828

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