Total Tau in CSF is a biomarker used to assess neuronal damage and degeneration, particularly in the context of neurodegenerative diseases. Tau is a protein primarily found in neurons, where it stabilizes microtubules essential for cellular transport. Elevated levels of total tau in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are often associated with conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, where neuronal damage leads to the release of tau into the CSF. Increased tau can also indicate acute brain injuries, such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, or other neurodegenerative disorders. In Alzheimer’s disease, total tau is typically elevated alongside phosphorylated tau (pTau), which reflects pathological tau phosphorylation processes, distinguishing it from other neurodegenerative diseases. The measurement of total tau in CSF, combined with other markers like amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptides and pTau, provides valuable insights into the underlying pathology, aiding in early diagnosis, prognosis, and differentiation of dementia-related conditions.
What does it mean if your Total Tau result is too high?
Elevated Total Tau levels in CSF indicate neuronal damage or degeneration, as tau is released into the cerebrospinal fluid when neurons are injured or die. High levels are often associated with the following conditions:
1. Alzheimer’s Disease
- Elevated total tau is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, reflecting ongoing neuronal damage. When combined with decreased amyloid-beta (Aβ42) levels and increased phosphorylated tau (pTau), it strongly supports a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.
2. Other Neurodegenerative Diseases
- Conditions like frontotemporal dementia (FTD) or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) can also cause significantly elevated total tau, often to a greater degree than Alzheimer’s in rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disorders like CJD.
3. Acute Brain Injury
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): Neuronal damage from trauma can cause a temporary or sustained increase in total tau levels.
- Stroke or Ischemia: Acute events leading to brain cell death, such as ischemic or hemorrhagic strokes, may result in elevated tau levels.
4. Other CNS Conditions
- Encephalitis or Infections: Severe central nervous system infections can lead to neuronal injury, causing an increase in total tau.
- Multiple Sclerosis (MS): Although less common, elevated total tau can occur during severe inflammation or neurodegeneration in advanced cases.
Clinical Implications
Elevated total tau levels indicate the extent of neuronal damage but are not disease-specific. They should always be interpreted alongside other biomarkers, such as amyloid-beta and phosphorylated tau, as well as clinical findings. Persistently high levels may suggest ongoing neuronal degeneration, warranting further diagnostic evaluations and treatment planning.
All Your Lab Results.
One Simple Dashboard.
Import, Track, and Share Your Lab Results Easily
Import, Track, and Share Your Lab Results
Import lab results from multiple providers, track changes over time, customize your reference ranges, and get clear explanations for each result. Everything is stored securely, exportable in one organized file, and shareable with your doctor—or anyone you choose.
Cancel or upgrade anytime
Laboratories
Bring All Your Lab Results Together — In One Place
We accept reports from any lab, so you can easily collect and organize all your health information in one secure spot.
Pricing Table
Gather Your Lab History — and Finally Make Sense of It
Finally, Your Lab Results Organized and Clear
Personal plans
$79/ year
Advanced Plan
Access your lab reports, explanations, and tracking tools.
- Import lab results from any provider
- Track all results with visual tools
- Customize your reference ranges
- Export your full lab history anytime
- Share results securely with anyone
- Receive 5 reports entered for you
- Cancel or upgrade anytime
$250/ once
Unlimited Account
Pay once, access everything—no monthly fees, no limits.
- Import lab results from any provider
- Track all results with visual tools
- Customize your reference ranges
- Export your full lab history anytime
- Share results securely with anyone
- Receive 10 reports entered for you
- No subscriptions. No extra fees.
$45/ month
Pro Monthly
Designed for professionals managing their clients' lab reports
- Import lab results from any provider
- Track lab results for multiple clients
- Customize reference ranges per client
- Export lab histories and reports
- Begin with first report entered by us
- Cancel or upgrade anytime
About membership
What's included in a Healthmatters membership
Import Lab Results from Any Source
See Your Health Timeline
Understand What Your Results Mean
Visualize Your Results
Data Entry Service for Your Reports
Securely Share With Anyone You Trust
Let Your Lab Results Tell the Full Story
Once your results are in one place, see the bigger picture — track trends over time, compare data side by side, export your full history, and share securely with anyone you trust.
Bring all your results together to compare, track progress, export your history, and share securely.
What Healthmatters Members Are Saying
Frequently asked questions
Healthmatters is a personal health dashboard that helps you organize and understand your lab results. It collects and displays your medical test data from any lab in one secure, easy-to-use platform.
- Individuals who want to track and understand their health over time.
- Health professionals, such as doctors, nutritionists, and wellness coaches, need to manage and interpret lab data for their clients.
With a Healthmatters account, you can:
- Upload lab reports from any lab
- View your data in interactive graphs, tables, and timelines
- Track trends and monitor changes over time
- Customize your reference ranges
- Export and share your full lab history
- Access your results anytime, from any device
Professionals can also analyze client data more efficiently and save time managing lab reports.
Healthmatters.io personal account provides in-depth research on 10000+ biomarkers, including information and suggestions for test panels such as, but not limited to:
- The GI Effects® Comprehensive Stool Profile,
- GI-MAP,
- The NutrEval FMV®,
- The ION Profile,
- Amino Acids Profile,
- Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones (DUTCH),
- Organic Acids Test,
- Organix Comprehensive Profile,
- Toxic Metals,
- Complete Blood Count (CBC),
- Metabolic panel,
- Thyroid panel,
- Lipid Panel,
- Urinalysis,
- And many, many more.
You can combine all test reports inside your Healthmatters account and keep them in one place. It gives you an excellent overview of all your health data. Once you retest, you can add new results and compare them.
If you are still determining whether Healthmatters support your lab results, the rule is that if you can test it, you can upload it to Healthmatters.
We implement proven measures to keep your data safe.
At HealthMatters, we're committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your personal information. We've put industry-leading security standards in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under our control. We use procedural, physical, and electronic security methods designed to prevent unauthorized people from getting access to this information. Our internal code of conduct adds additional privacy protection. All data is backed up multiple times a day and encrypted using SSL certificates. See our Privacy Policy for more details.