Novel drug-independent sedation level estimation based on machine learning of quantitative frontal electroencephalogram features in healthy volunteers

BACKGROUND: Sedation indicators based on a single quantitative EEG (QEEG) feature have been criticised for their limited performance. We hypothesised that integration of multiple QEEG features into a single sedation-level estimator using a machine learning algorithm could reliably predict levels of sedation, independent of the sedative drug used.

METHODS: In total, 102 subjects receiving propofol (N=36; 16 male/20 female), sevoflurane (N=36; 16 male/20 female), or dexmedetomidine (N=30; 15 male/15 female) were included in this study of healthy volunteers. Sedation level was assessed using the Modified Observer's Assessment of Alertness/Sedation (MOAA/S) score. We used 44 QEEG features estimated from the EEG data in a logistic regression algorithm, and an elastic-net regularisation method was used for feature selection. The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC) was used to assess the performance of the logistic regression model.

RESULTS: The performances obtained when the system was trained and tested as drug-dependent mode to distinguish between awake and sedated states (mean AUC [standard deviation]) were propofol=0.97 (0.03), sevoflurane=0.74 (0.25), and dexmedetomidine=0.77 (0.10). The drug-independent system resulted in mean AUC=0.83 (0.17) to discriminate between the awake and sedated states.

CONCLUSIONS: The incorporation of large numbers of QEEG features and machine learning algorithms is feasible for next-generation monitors of sedation level. Different QEEG features were selected for propofol, sevoflurane, and dexmedetomidine groups, but the sedation-level estimator maintained a high performance for predicting MOAA/S independent of the drug used.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT02043938; NCT03143972.