AlzBiomarker

Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy vs Alzheimer's Disease: tau-total (CSF)

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Meta-analysis did not show a statistically significant difference in the levels of tau in the cerebrospinal fluid of people with cerebral amyloid angiopathy and people with Alzheimer's disease (effect size = 0.686, p = 0.052). However, a paucity of data limited the meta-analysis, with only two eligible studies and a small number of CAA subjects. A meta-analysis that compared people with CAA to control subjects found elevated levels of tau in the paitents (effect size = 1.54, 95% confidence interval: 1.15–2.07, p = 0.004; Charidimou et al., 2018). For comparison, levels of tau in the CSF of AD patients are more than double those in control subjects.

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How to interpret a forest plot: Each individual effect size (ES) is a ratio of the mean biomarker level in one condition over the mean level in another condition. An ES equal to 1 means that the two conditions had identical mean values. An ES > 1 indicates higher levels in the first condition, whereas an ES < 1 indicates lower levels in the first condition. The overall ES, indicated by a black diamond, is a weighted average of the individual effect sizes. The weight of each data point was determined by the inverse of the variance and is reflected in the size of each square. The width of the overall ES diamond is determined by the 95 percent confidence interval. Data out of range of the scale, including ES and confidence intervals, are indicated by an arrowhead at the edge of the plot, when applicable. 

Version 3.0, July 2021.