The role of the electroencephalogram (EEG) in determining the aetiology of catatonia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy.
Hosseini P., Whincup R., Devan K., Ghanem DA., Fanshawe JB., Saini A., Cross B., Vijay A., Mastellari T., Vivekananda U., White S., Brunnhuber F., Zandi MS., David AS., Carter B., Oliver D., Lewis G., Fry C., Mehta PR., Stanton B., Rogers JP.
BACKGROUND: Catatonia is a psychomotor syndrome that has a wide range of aetiologies. Determining whether catatonia is due to a medical or psychiatric cause is important for directing treatment but is clinically challenging. We aimed to ascertain the performance of the electroencephalogram (EEG) in determining whether catatonia has a medical or psychiatric cause, conventionally defined. METHODS: In this systematic review and meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy (PROSPERO CRD42021239027), Medline, EMBASE, PsycInfo, and AMED were searched from inception to May 11, 2022 for articles published in peer-reviewed journals that reported EEG findings in catatonia of a medical or psychiatric origin and were reported in English, French, or Italian. Eligible study types were clinical trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, cross-sectional studies, case series, and case reports. The reference standard was the final clinical diagnosis. Data extraction was conducted using individual patient-level data, where available, by two authors. We prespecified two types of studies to overcome the limitations anticipated in the data: larger studies (n ≥ 5), which were suitable for formal meta-analytic methods but generally lacked detailed information about participants, and smaller studies (n