Presence of anticardiolipin antibodies in patients with dementia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Growing evidences are supporting towards the involvement of antiphospholipid antibodies [aPLs e.g., lupus anticoagulant (LA), anticardiolipin (aCL) and anti-β2-glycoprotein I (anti-β2-GPI) antibodies] in various neurological manifestations including migraine, epilepsy and dementia in the presence or absence of autoimmune diseases such as antiphospholipid syndrome or systemic lupus erythematosus. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess the presence of aPLs in dementia patients without a diagnosis of any autoimmune disease. Electronic databases (e.g., PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar) were searched without any year or language restrictions and based on the inclusion criteria, nine prospective case-control studies assessing only aCL were included involving 372 dementia patients and 337 healthy controls. No studies were found to assess the presence of both LA or anti-β2-GPI. The study-specific odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using random-effects model. We observed the prevalence of aCL in dementia was higher (32.80%) than that of controls (9.50%) e.g., 3.45 times higher risk of presenting with dementia than the controls, and significant presence of aCL antibodies was detected in dementia patients compared to controls (OR: 4.94, 95% CI: 2.66 - 9.16, p < 0.00001; I² = 32%, p = 0.16). Publication bias was not observed from Egger's (p = 0.081) and Begg's tests (p = 0.180). Based on the study quality assessment using modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for case-control studies, seven of nine studies were of high methodological quality scoring ≥ 7 (median value). In summary, aCL antibodies were significantly present in dementia patients suggesting that aCL antibodies are generated due to the autoimmune-derived effects of dementia or there might be a potential causative role of this autoantibody in dementia pathogenesis.