Abstract
Objective:
To investigate the association between activity during interferon-beta (IFNβ) therapy and disability outcomes in patients with relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).
Methods:
A longitudinal study based on two previously described cohorts of IFNβ-treated RRMS patients was conducted. Patients were classified according to clinical activity after 2 years (clinical cohort) or to clinical and radiological activity after 1 year (magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) cohort). Multivariate Cox models were calculated for early disease activity predicting long-term disability.
Results:
A total of 516 patients from two different cohorts were included in the analyses. Persistent clinical disease activity during the first 2 years of therapy predicted severe long-term disability (clinical cohort). In the MRI cohort, modified Rio score and no or minimal evidence of disease activity (NEDA/MEDA) did not identify patients with risk of Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) worsening. However, a Rio score ≥ 2 (hazard ratio (HR): 3.3, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.7–6.4); ≥3 new T2 lesions (HR: 2.9, 95% CI: 1.5–5.6); or ≥2 Gd-enhancing lesions (HR: 2.1, 95% CI: 1.1–4) were able to identify patients with EDSS worsening.
Conclusion:
Although early activity during IFNβ therapy is associated with poor long-term outcomes, minimal degree of activity does not seem to be predictive of EDSS worsening over 6.7-year mean follow-up.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
