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Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers for the Differential Diagnosis of Dementia

Nathalie Le Bastard, MSc, Peter Paul De Deyn, MD, PhD, and Sebastiaan Engelborghs MD, PhD

The prevalence of dementia increases with age, and as the worldwide population is undergoing a demographic shift towards having more persons who are aged 65 years, the incidence of dementia will continue to increase worldwide. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia. In the US, approximately 5.3 million people aged 65 years suffer from AD, which corresponds to a rate of prevalence of 13% for this age category [1]. The diagnosis of AD is made according to the clinical diagnostic criteria put forward by the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association (NINCDS-ADRDA) working group in 1984 [2]. However, the accuracy of these criteria varies greatly according to the specific settings in which they are applied [3]. Recently, both sensitive and specific markers for AD have been identified. This article focuses on the use of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers as complementary diagnostic tools for AD.

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