PMID- 23958957
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20150415
LR  - 20220419
IS  - 1476-5578 (Electronic)
IS  - 1359-4184 (Linking)
VI  - 19
IP  - 7
DP  - 2014 Jul
TI  - Serum BDNF concentrations as peripheral manifestations of depression: evidence 
      from a systematic review and meta-analyses on 179 associations (N=9484).
PG  - 791-800
LID - 10.1038/mp.2013.105 [doi]
AB  - Meta-analyses, published in 2008-2010, have confirmed abnormally low serum 
      brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) concentrations in depressed patients and 
      normalization of this by antidepressant treatment. These findings are believed to 
      reflect peripheral manifestations of the neurotrophin hypothesis, which states 
      that depression is secondary to an altered expression of BDNF in the brain. Since 
      the publication of these meta-analyses, the field has seen a huge increase in 
      studies on these topics. This motivated us to update the evidence on the 
      aforementioned associations and, in addition, to compile the data on serum BDNF 
      concentrations in relation to the symptom severity of depression. Using a 
      manifold of data as compared with earlier meta-analyses, we find low serum BDNF 
      concentrations in 2384 antidepressant-free depressed patients relative to 2982 
      healthy controls and to 1249 antidepressant-treated depressed patients (Cohen's 
      d=-0.71 and -0.56, P-values <0.0000001). When publication bias is accounted for, 
      these effect-sizes become substantially smaller (d=-0.47 and -0.34, respectively, 
      P-values<0.0001). We detect between-study heterogeneity in outcomes for which 
      only year of publication and sample size are significant moderators, with more 
      recent papers and larger samples sizes in general being associated with smaller 
      between-group differences. Finally, the aggregated data negate consistent 
      associations between serum BDNF concentrations and the symptom severity of 
      depression. Our findings corroborate the claim that altered serum BDNF 
      concentrations are peripheral manifestations of depression. However, here we 
      highlight that the evidence for this claim is slimmer as was initially thought 
      and amidst a lot of noise.
FAU - Molendijk, M L
AU  - Molendijk ML
AD  - 1] Clinical, Health and Neuropsychology Unit, Leiden University, Leiden, The 
      Netherlands [2] Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University 
      Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
FAU - Spinhoven, P
AU  - Spinhoven P
AD  - 1] Clinical, Health and Neuropsychology Unit, Leiden University, Leiden, The 
      Netherlands [2] Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University 
      Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands [3] Department of Psychiatry, Leiden 
      University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
FAU - Polak, M
AU  - Polak M
AD  - Clinical, Health and Neuropsychology Unit, Leiden University, Leiden, The 
      Netherlands.
FAU - Bus, B A A
AU  - Bus BA
AD  - Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, 
      The Netherlands.
FAU - Penninx, B W J H
AU  - Penninx BW
AD  - 1] Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The 
      Netherlands [2] Department of Psychiatry, EMGO Institute and Neuroscience Campus 
      Amsterdam VU, Amsterdam, The Netherlands [3] University Center for Psychiatry, 
      University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The 
      Netherlands.
FAU - Elzinga, B M
AU  - Elzinga BM
AD  - 1] Clinical, Health and Neuropsychology Unit, Leiden University, Leiden, The 
      Netherlands [2] Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University 
      Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Meta-Analysis
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PT  - Review
PT  - Systematic Review
DEP - 20130820
PL  - England
TA  - Mol Psychiatry
JT  - Molecular psychiatry
JID - 9607835
RN  - 0 (Antidepressive Agents)
RN  - 0 (Biomarkers)
RN  - 0 (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor)
SB  - IM
MH  - Antidepressive Agents/therapeutic use
MH  - Biomarkers/blood
MH  - Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor/*blood
MH  - Case-Control Studies
MH  - Depression/*blood/drug therapy
MH  - Humans
MH  - Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
MH  - Publication Bias/statistics & numerical data
EDAT- 2013/08/21 06:00
MHDA- 2015/04/16 06:00
CRDT- 2013/08/21 06:00
PHST- 2013/04/28 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2013/07/06 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2013/07/18 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2013/08/21 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2013/08/21 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2015/04/16 06:00 [medline]
AID - mp2013105 [pii]
AID - 10.1038/mp.2013.105 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Mol Psychiatry. 2014 Jul;19(7):791-800. doi: 10.1038/mp.2013.105. Epub 2013 Aug 
      20.