Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and associated dementias have anxiety as a risk factor and prodromal symptom, although the underlying neurobiological underpinnings are yet unknown. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate the relationship between anxiety symptoms and amyloid-beta (A) and tau, two key indicators of AD neuropathology. Five databases were searched systematically for relevant literature. Studies examining the association between anxiety and tau and/or A neuropathology in cognitively healthy adults were included. Whenever possible, random-effects meta-analyses were used to integrate effect sizes across trials, individually for tau and A. Sensitivity studies were carried out to determine whether the results varied depending on the kind of anxiety (i.e., state and trait anxiety) and the modality used to measure the biomarkers (i.e., positron emission tomography and cerebrospinal fluid).
