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CSF tau and β-amyloid as biomarkers for mild cognitive impairment
Hampel H, Blennow K.. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 2004-12-01
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
Plain-language summary
Early diagnosis of Alzheimer s disease (AD) is relevant in order to initiate symptomatic treatment with antidementia drugs. This will be of greater significance if the drugs aimed at slowing down the degenerative process (secondary prevention) prove to affect AD pathology and are clinically effective, such as γ-secretase inhibitors. However, there is currently no clinical assessment to differentiate the patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who will progress to AD from those with a benign form of memory impairment that is part of the normal aging process.
What this study adds
Evidence grade: Low
This review discusses whether CSF tau and beta-amyloid can help identify which people with mild cognitive impairment will progress to Alzheimer's. It is about improving early diagnosis, not about treating or preventing the disease.
Taken from this record’s own fields, not from reading the paper. The grade is assigned from the abstract’s wording; what that means.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Hampel, H., & Blennow, K. (2004). CSF tau and β-amyloid as biomarkers for mild cognitive impairment. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience.
Vancouver
Hampel H, Blennow K. CSF tau and β-amyloid as biomarkers for mild cognitive impairment. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience. 2004. PMID: 22034251.
BibTeX
@article{hampel2004-22034251,
author = {Hampel, H. and Blennow, K.},
title = {{CSF tau and β-amyloid as biomarkers for mild cognitive impairment}},
journal = {Dialogues in clinical neuroscience},
year = {2004},
pmid = {22034251}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. This record has no DOI, so the citation leaves it out. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Key findings
- This will be of greater significance if the drugs aimed at slowing down the degenerative process (secondary prevention) prove to affect AD pathology and are clinically effective, such as γ-secretase inhibitors.
- However, there is currently no clinical assessment to differentiate the patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who will progress to AD from those with a benign form of memory impairment that is part of the normal aging process.
- Thus, there is great clinical need for diagnostic and predictive biomarkers, as well as biomarkers for classification purposes, to identify incipient AD in MCI subjects.
- The most promising cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker candidates are total tau protein (T-tau), phosphorylated tau protein (P-tau), and the 42-andno acid form offi-amyloid (Aβ42), which may, if used in the right clinical context, prove to have sufficient diagnostic accuracy and predictive power to resolve this diagnostic challenge.
Why it matters
This review discusses whether CSF tau and beta-amyloid can help identify which people with mild cognitive impairment will progress to Alzheimer's. It is about improving early diagnosis, not about treating or preventing the disease.
New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Blood tests & biomarkers →
Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 39/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Dialogues in clinical neuroscience) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience: journal h-index 154 (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 | 2004 — 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 | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomized / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 4 / 7 | Cited 52 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 1 / 5 | 2.2 citations a year over 24 year(s) since 2004 |
| Impact for its field and year | 1 / 6 | Cited 0.2× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 2 / 4 | Cited 19 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Kaj Blennow: h-index 220 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München: institution h-index 1,224 (OpenAlex) |
| Multicenter collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 2 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 22034251) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Total | 39 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
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