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59/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 59 out of 100. Getting a diagnosis

Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis

Background Disease-modifying treatment strategies for Alzheimer's disease have led to an urgent need for biomarkers to identify the disease at a very early stage. Here, we assess the association between CSF biomarkers and incipient Alzheimer's in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods From a series of 180 consecutive patients with MCI, we assessed 137 who underwent successful lumbar puncture at baseline. Patients at risk of developing dementia were followed clinically for 4-6 years. Additionally, 39 healthy individuals, cognitively stable over 3 years, served as controls. We analysed CSF concentrations of beta amyloid(1-42) (Abeta42), total tau (T-tau), and phosphorylated tau (P-tau181) using Luminex xMAP technology. Findings During follow-up, 57 (42%) patients with MCI developed Alzheimer's disease, 21 (15%) developed other forms of dementia, and 56 (41%) remained cognitively stable for 5.2 years (range 4.0-6.8). A combination of CSF T-tau and Abeta42 at baseline yielded a sensitivity of 95% and a specificity of 83% for detection of incipient AD in patients with MCI. The relative risk of progression to Alzheimer's disease was substantially increased in patients with MCI who had pathological concentrations of T-tau and Abeta42 at baseline (hazard ratio 17.7, p Interpretation Concentrations of T-tau, P-tau181, and Abeta42 in CSF are strongly associated with future development of Alzheimer's disease in patients with MCI.

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APA 7th

Hansson, O., Zetterberg, H., Buchhave, P., Londos, E., Blennow, K., & Minthon, L. (2006). Association between CSF biomarkers and incipient Alzheimer's disease in patients with mild cognitive impairment: a follow-up study. The Lancet. Neurology. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1474-4422(06)70355-6

Vancouver

Hansson O, Zetterberg H, Buchhave P, Londos E, Blennow K, Minthon L. Association between CSF biomarkers and incipient Alzheimer's disease in patients with mild cognitive impairment: a follow-up study. The Lancet. Neurology. 2006. doi:10.1016/s1474-4422(06)70355-6. PMID: 16488378.

BibTeX

@article{hansson2006-16488378,
  author  = {Hansson, O. and Zetterberg, H. and Buchhave, P. and Londos, E. and Blennow, K. and Minthon, L.},
  title   = {{Association between CSF biomarkers and incipient Alzheimer's disease in patients with mild cognitive impairment: a follow-up study}},
  journal = {The Lancet. Neurology},
  year    = {2006},
  doi     = {10.1016/s1474-4422(06)70355-6},
  pmid    = {16488378},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1016/s1474-4422(06)70355-6}
}

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Key findings

The relative risk of progression to Alzheimer's disease was substantially increased in patients with MCI who had pathological concentrations of T-tau and Abeta42 at baseline (hazard ratio 17.7, p<0.0001).

Why it matters

In patients with mild cognitive impairment, a combination of CSF T-tau and Abeta42 predicted progression to Alzheimer's disease with 95% sensitivity and 83% specificity, and pathological levels raised the risk substantially. These are early-detection biomarkers, not a treatment or cure.

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Study details

Effect sizeor 5.2
Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 59/100

Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	9 / 10	Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (The Lancet. Neurology)
Journal's citation record	3 / 4	The Lancet Neurology: journal h-index 457 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	0 / 12	No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Strength of evidence	1 / 5	Rated “low” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	1 / 5	2006 — older than 20 years, still counted
Sample size	0 / 4	Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Effect reported	2 / 3	Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test
Studied in people	0 / 3	Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Randomised / blinded	0 / 2	No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	7 / 7	Cited 1,703 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	5 / 5	77.4 citations a year over 22 year(s) since 2006
Impact for its field and year	6 / 6	Cited 62.1× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	5 / 6	Cited by 179 other studies in this library
Still being cited	3 / 4	Cited 114 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	3 / 4	Last-listed author Lennart Minthon: h-index 89 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	1 / 3	Lund University: institution h-index 1,119 (OpenAlex)
Multi-centre collaboration	1 / 3	OpenAlex lists 3 institution(s) in 1 country
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 16488378)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Total	59 / 100	—

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