Cerebrospinal fluid/serum albumin ratio in patients with Lewy body disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Moyu Li; Jinghuan Gan; Xia Yang; Shuai Liu; Yong Ji

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2024.1390036

Cerebrospinal fluid/serum albumin ratio in patients with Lewy body disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Front Aging Neurosci. 2024 May 2:16:1390036. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2024.1390036. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Moyu Li¹, Jinghuan Gan², Xia Yang¹, Shuai Liu³, Yong Ji^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
² Department of Neurology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
³ Department of Neurology, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Cerebrovascular and Neurodegenerative Diseases, Tianjin Dementia Institute, Tianjin Huanhu Hospital, Tianjin, China.

Abstract

Background: Abnormal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)/serum albumin ratio (Qalb) levels have been observed in patients with cognitive impairment. Few studies have specifically focused on Lewy Body Disease (LBD), and the results were controversial. Thus, we conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate Qalb levels in patients with LBD by including data from different studies.

Method: We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases for a collection of studies containing studies comparing Qalb levels in patients with LBD and healthy controls (including healthy controls and other dementia subtypes). In the initial search, 86 relevant papers were retrieved. Standardized mean differences (SMD) in Qalb levels were calculated using a random effects model.

Results: A total of 13 eligible studies were included. Mean Qalb levels were significantly higher in patients with LBD compared to healthy older adults [standardized mean difference (SMD): 2.95, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.89-5.00, Z = 2.81, p = 0.005]; and were significantly higher in patients with LBD than in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) (SMD: 1.13, 95% CI: 0.42-1.83, Z = 3.15, p = 0.002);whereas mean Qalb levels were significantly higher in patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) compared to those with AD (SMD: 1.13, 95% CI,0.14-2.13, Z = 2.24, p = 0.03).

Conclusion: Qalb levels were significantly elevated in LBD patients compared with normal older adults and were higher than those in AD patients and FTLD patients, which helped in the differential diagnosis of LBD from other neurodegenerative diseases.

Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier CRD42024496616.

Keywords: Lewy body disease; Parkinson’s disease; Qalb; blood–brain barrier; meta-analysis; systematic review.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the Tianjin Science and Technology Plan Project [grant no. 22ZYCGSY00840], Tianjin Municipal Education Commission Research projects [grant no. 2023KJ060], Tianjin Health Research Project [grant nos. TJWJ2023QN060 and TJWJ2022MS032], National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant no. 82171182] and Tianjin Key Medical Discipline (Specialty) Construction Project [grant no. TJYXZDXK-052B].