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57/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 57 out of 100. Biomarkers

Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models

Plain-language summary

Previous studies have demonstrated increased tau plasma levels in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to AD. Much less is known whether increased tau plasma levels can already be detected in the pre-MCI stage of subjective cognitive decline (SCD). In the present study we measured tau plasma levels in 111 SCD patients and 134 age- and gender-matched cognitively healthy controls participating in the DZNE (German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases) longitudinal study on cognition and dementia (DELCODE). Tau plasma levels were measured using ultra-sensitive, single-molecule array (Simoa) technology. We found no significant different tau plasma levels in SCD (3.4 pg/ml) compared with healthy controls (3.6 pg/ml) after controlling for age, gender, and education (p = 0.137). In addition, tau plasma levels did not correlate with Aβ42 (r = 0.073; p = 0.634), tau (r = -0.179; p = 0.240), and p-tau181 (r = -0.208; p = 0.171) cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels in a subgroup of 45 SCD patients with available CSF. In conclusion, plasma tau is not increased in SCD patients. In addition, the lack of correlation between tau in plasma and CSF in the examined cohort suggests that tau levels are affected by different factors in both biofluids.

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

APA 7th

Müller, S., Preische, O., Göpfert, J. C., Yañez, V. A. C., Joos, T. O., Boecker, H., et al. (2017). Tau plasma levels in subjective cognitive decline: Results from the DELCODE study. Scientific reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08779-0

Vancouver

Müller S, Preische O, Göpfert JC, Yañez VAC, Joos TO, Boecker H, et al. Tau plasma levels in subjective cognitive decline: Results from the DELCODE study. Scientific reports. 2017. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-08779-0. PMID: 28842559.

BibTeX

@article{muller2017-28842559,
  author  = {Müller, S. and Preische, O. and Göpfert, J. C. and Yañez, V. A. C. and Joos, T. O. and Boecker, H. and Düzel, E. and Falkai, P. and others},
  title   = {{Tau plasma levels in subjective cognitive decline: Results from the DELCODE study}},
  journal = {Scientific reports},
  year    = {2017},
  doi     = {10.1038/s41598-017-08779-0},
  pmid    = {28842559},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08779-0}
}

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How to read this study

Design: this is a follow-up (cohort) study. People are observed over time and not assigned to anything, so an association can reflect other differences between groups. Look at how long follow-up lasted, how many dropped out, and whether the authors adjusted for age, education and other health conditions.
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 moderate. alzhub.org assigns the grade automatically from keywords in the abstract, not from reading the paper. Moderate means the abstract mentions a cohort, case-control or longitudinal design. 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

Previous studies have demonstrated increased tau plasma levels in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to AD.
We found no significant different tau plasma levels in SCD (3.4 pg/ml) compared with healthy controls (3.6 pg/ml) after controlling for age, gender, and education (p = 0.137).
In conclusion, plasma tau is not increased in SCD patients.
In addition, the lack of correlation between tau in plasma and CSF in the examined cohort suggests that tau levels are affected by different factors in both biofluids.

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Study details

Study designlongitudinal study
Evidence strengthModerate

How this study scored 57/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a longitudinal study following the same people over time. Scored zero for sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomized / blinded 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, institution's track record and multicenter collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 33 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 57 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Scientific reports)
Journal's citation record	— / 4	No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score
Study design	7 / 12	A longitudinal study following the same people over time
Strength of evidence	3 / 5	Rated “moderate” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	2 / 5	2017 — within 10 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	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	— / 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	— / 3	Institutions not listed — left out of this score
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 28842559)
Free to read	2 / 2	Free to read
Points	33 / 58	Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 33 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 57 out of 100.
Total	57 / 100	—

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