Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31909174›Full record

ReviewAlzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands)2019

The diagnostic performance of neurofilament light chain in CSF and blood for Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Lauren M Forgrave, Matthew Ma, John R Best, Mari L DeMarco

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 99 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
99citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
12.4field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

99 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 169 citations in OpenAlex.

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  18. Genetic and environmental contributions to variation in plasma phosphorylated tau 217.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025
    Article
  19. Review
  20. Clinical use and reporting of neurofilament quantification in neurological disorders: A global overview.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025
    Article

39 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Lauren M ForgraveDepartment of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Matthew MaDepartment of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
John R BestDepartment of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Mari L DeMarcoDepartment of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
University of British Columbia · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionA systematic review and meta-analysis was performed regarding the diagnostic performance of neurofilament light chain (NfL) in CSF and blood.

methodsA database search was conducted for NfL biomarker studies in the context of Alzheimer's disease (AD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) compared with controls (i.e., cognitively unimpaired, mild cognitive impairment, or disease mimics).

resultsIn groups with a sufficient number of studies, the performance of NfL in blood and CSF was similar. Compared with disease mimics, we observed that CSF NfL had strong discriminatory power for ALS, modest discriminatory power for FTD, and no discriminatory power for AD. NfL provided the greatest separation between ALS and cognitively unimpaired controls in both the blood and CSF, followed by FTD (CSF and blood), then AD (blood and CSF). DISCUSSION: Comparable performance of CSF and blood NfL in many groups demonstrates the promise of NfL as a noninvasive biomarker of neurodegeneration; however, its utility in clinically meaningful scenarios requires greater scrutiny. Toward clinical implementation, a more comprehensive understanding of NfL concentrations in disease subtypes with overlapping phenotypes and at defined stages of disease, and the development of a harmonization program, are warranted.

Indexed as

Alzheimer's diseaseAmyotrophic lateral sclerosisBiomarkerDementiaFrontotemporal dementiaMeta-analysisNeurodegenerationNeurofilament light chain

Identifiers

PMID31909174
PMCPMC6939029
OpenAlexW2984229501

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.