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70/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 70 out of 100. Drug development

Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis

Plain-language summary

Preclinical and clinical studies gave evidence that lithium could be useful in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In experimental investigations, lithium induces brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Recent studies have found a decrease of BDNF in the serum and brains of AD patients with potentially consecutive lack of neurotrophic support. We assessed the influence of a lithium treatment on BDNF serum concentration in a subset of a greater sample recruited for a randomized, single-blinded, placebo-controlled, parallel-group multicenter 10-week study, investigating the efficacy of lithium treatment in AD patients. In AD patients treated with lithium, a significant increase of BDNF serum levels, and additionally a significant decrease of ADAS-Cog sum scores in comparison to placebo-treated patients, were found. Diminution of cognitive impairment was inversely correlated with lithium serum concentration. Upregulation of BDNF might be part of a neuroprotective effect of lithium in AD patients. The results of the present investigation encourage performing studies with longer treatment phases to observe potential positive long-term effects of lithium in AD patients.

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

APA 7th

Leyhe, T., Eschweiler, G. W., Stransky, E., Gasser, T., Annas, P., Basun, H., et al. (2009). Increase of BDNF serum concentration in lithium treated patients with early Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD. https://doi.org/10.3233/jad-2009-1004

Vancouver

Leyhe T, Eschweiler GW, Stransky E, Gasser T, Annas P, Basun H, et al. Increase of BDNF serum concentration in lithium treated patients with early Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD. 2009. doi:10.3233/jad-2009-1004. PMID: 19276559.

BibTeX

@article{leyhe2009-19276559,
  author  = {Leyhe, T. and Eschweiler, G. W. and Stransky, E. and Gasser, T. and Annas, P. and Basun, H. and Laske, C.},
  title   = {{Increase of BDNF serum concentration in lithium treated patients with early Alzheimer's disease}},
  journal = {Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD},
  year    = {2009},
  doi     = {10.3233/jad-2009-1004},
  pmid    = {19276559},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.3233/jad-2009-1004}
}

Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record names 7 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.

How to read this study

Design: this is a trial. Participants are assigned to a treatment or a comparison, so the key questions are who was enrolled, whether the comparison group got a placebo or nothing, how long people were followed, and whether the result is on a measure that matters to patients or on a biomarker. Open-label and small trials can overstate benefit.
Size: the record gives no participant count. Look for one in the original before trusting a pattern.
Effect: the record gives no effect size, so the summary above cannot say how large any difference was.

What the evidence grade means here

This page is graded high. alzhub.org assigns the grade automatically from keywords in the abstract, not from reading the paper. High means the abstract mentions a randomized design, a meta-analysis or a systematic review. It can add at most 5 of the 100 points in the study score, and it is a label about design, not a verdict on whether the findings are true.

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Key findings

In AD patients treated with lithium, a significant increase of BDNF serum levels, and additionally a significant decrease of ADAS-Cog sum scores in comparison to placebo-treated patients, were found.
The results of the present investigation encourage performing studies with longer treatment phases to observe potential positive long-term effects of lithium in AD patients.

New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Treatments →

Study details

Evidence strengthHigh

How this study scored 70/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a randomized controlled trial. Scored zero for sample size and effect reported because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record and institution's track record, so those were left out: it earned 43 of the 61 points we could judge it on, which is 70 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD)
Journal's citation record	— / 4	No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score
Study design	11 / 12	A randomized controlled trial (from PubMed type “Randomized Controlled Trial”)
Strength of evidence	5 / 5	Rated “high” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	1 / 5	2009 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here
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	3 / 3	Studied in people (pubmed indexes it as a clinical or observational study)
Randomized / blinded	2 / 2	Randomized and blinded or placebo-controlled (as stated in the record)
Times cited	— / 7	No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score
Citations per year	— / 5	No citation count or no year — left out of this score
Impact for its field and year	— / 6	No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score
Cited by studies here	— / 6	Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score
Still being cited	— / 4	No yearly citation counts — left out of this score
Senior author's track record	— / 4	Senior author's record not available — left out of this score
Institution's track record	— / 3	No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score
Multicenter collaboration	2 / 3	PubMed indexes it as a multicentre study
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 19276559)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Points	43 / 61	Scored on 12 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 43 of the 61 points we could judge it on is 70 out of 100.
Total	70 / 100	—

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