Cerebrospinal fluid glucose is not altered in patients with dementia

BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that the pathological changes of many dementia disorders begin several years before clinical onset. A connection between some of these pathophysiological changes and brain hypometabolism, seen in dementia disorders, is well established. Glucose is transported from the blood into the interstitial space, and the decreased demand for glucose by the degenerating brain tissue may thereby mirror increased levels of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) glucose. In this study, the levels of CSF and plasma glucose and the CSF/plasma glucose ratio were investigated in a large cohort from a mixed memory clinic population in order to evaluate its diagnostic potential.

METHOD: CSF and plasma samples were taken from 446 patients (Alzheimer's Disease (AD) (n=320), vascular dementia (VaD) (n=64), frontotemporal dementia (FTD) (n=27) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) (n=35)), and 130 healthy controls (HC) (healthy subjects (HS) (n=34), non-demented HS (n=96)).

RESULTS: No significant differences were found for CSF and plasma glucose or the CSF/plasma glucose ratio between patients with dementia disorders and HC. In addition, no significant differences were observed between the different dementia etiologies.

CONCLUSION: CSF and plasma glucose were not useful to differentiate between HC and patients with various dementia disorders.