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Review
. 2022 Mar 22;12(4):414.
doi: 10.3390/brainsci12040414.

Peripheral Blood Levels of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor in Patients with First Episode Psychosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Sukhbir Singh  1   2 , Dipta Roy  1 , Taylor Marzouk  1 , Jian-Ping Zhang  1   3
Affiliations
Review

Peripheral Blood Levels of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor in Patients with First Episode Psychosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Sukhbir Singh et al. Brain Sci. .

Abstract

Background: Peripheral blood level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) may be used as a diagnostic and/or prognostic marker for schizophrenia. Previous studies were inconsistent. A systematic review was conducted to examine whether BDNF level is different in patients with first episode psychosis (FEP) compared to health controls (HC) and whether it changes after treatment. Methods: Literature search was done in PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar following standard procedures. Hedges’ g was used as the measure of effect size (ES), which was pooled with random effects model. Publication bias and moderator effects were examined. Results: Search yielded 29 studies with a total sample size of 2912. First meta-analysis included 27 studies with FEP vs. HC comparison. Pooled ES was −0.63, p < 0.001, indicating that BDNF level was lower in FEP than in HC. Studies were heterogeneous, and moderator analysis showed that studies of younger patient, higher symptom severity, and more drug naïve had larger ES. Second meta-analysis examined change in BDNF levels before and after antipsychotic treatment in eight studies. A pooled ES of −0.003 (p = 0.96) showed no change in peripheral BDNF level after treatment. Conclusion: Peripheral BDNF level was decreased in FEP compared to HC, but it did not change after treatment.

Keywords: BDNF; antipsychotic treatment; first episode psychosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) flow diagram of literature search procedure and results.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Peripheral BDNF Levels in First Episode Psychotic Patients versus Healthy Controls.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Peripheral BDNF levels in first episode psychotic patients before and after antipsychotic treatment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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