AlzBiomarker

Depression vs Alzheimer's Disease: Aβ42 (CSF)

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Meta-analysis of five studies showed that levels of Aβ42 in the cerebrospinal fluid of people with depression are nearly double those of people with Alzheimer's disease (effect size = 1.918, p <0.0001). For comparison, the level of Aβ42 in the CSF of control subjects is also nearly double that of people with Alzheimer's disease. A published meta-analysis comparing levels of CSF Aβ42 in people with late-life depression to control subjects did not find a difference between the two groups (Nascimento et al., 2015).

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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.