Blood phosphorylated tau for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Plasma phosphorylated tau (p-tau) biomarkers show promise to transform the clinical management of Alzheimer's disease by providing more accessible and cost-effective diagnostic tools. p-tau biomarkers have emerged as leading contenders for clinical implementation; however, there have been no comprehensive meta-analyses of their diagnostic performance. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of plasma p-tau biomarkers and individual p-tau assays to identify biologically defined Alzheimer's disease.
METHODS
For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched Embase, MEDLINE, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science for articles published from July 1, 1984 up to Dec 9, 2024, that reported on the discriminative accuracy of plasma p-tau biomarkers for amyloid-PET, tau-PET, CSF, and neuropathological reference standards. We included cohort, case-control, cross-sectional, and randomised controlled studies that recruited adults from any setting. Articles were excluded if they did not contain data on a p-tau blood biomarker, did not contain an appropriate biological reference standard, did not report diagnostic accuracy data, included participants younger than 18 years, or reported duplicate or overlapping data from another publication. Summary data were independently extracted by eight authors. Risk of bias was assessed using QUADAS-2. The primary outcome was the diagnostic performance of plasma p-tau biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease. We used a bivariate…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a meta-analysis, done in people. Its evidence level is 1 of 5 (Highest · pooled evidence). Pooled evidence from several studies sits at the top of the evidence pyramid. Reported size: 29 participants or records.
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