Table 3.

Differences in T2-FLAIR and T1-WI MRI measures between CI and non-CI pwRRMS at baseline.

T2-FLAIR measures	CI pwRRMS at baseline (n = 90)	Non-CI pwRRMS at baseline (n = 242)	p-valuea	p-valueb
T2-LV at baseline	13.2 (12.1)	6.9 (8.9)	<0.001	<0.001
Absolute T2-LV change	0.5 (1.9)	0.3 (1.6)	0.484	0.547
New/enlarging T2 lesion number	0.5 (1.5)	0.39 (1.2)	0.557	0.827
LVV at baseline	25.7 (14.7)	19.3 (11.3)	0.016	0.021
% LVV change	2.6 (10.6)	2.2 (23.9)	0.773	0.863
Thalamic volume at baseline	13.6 (2.1)	14.5 (1.7)	0.002	0.001
Thalamic volume % change	−1.3 (5.5)	−1.3 (4.4)	0.999	0.994
Thalamic dysconnectivity at baseline	3.6 (3.1)	2.1 (2.2)	<0.001	<0.001
Thalamic dysconnectivity absolute change	−0.06 (1.3)	0.12 (1.1)	0.355	0.333
T1-WI measures
WBV at baseline	1455.0 (114.8)	1510.5 (91.5)	0.023	0.029
PBVC	−1.1 (1.5)	−1.2 (1.6)	0.451	0.415
GMV at baseline	540.2 (73.8)	574.4 (68.2)	0.039	0.053
PGMVC	0.19 (3.0)	−0.9 (2.8)	0.055	0.063
Thalamic volume at baseline	14.4 (2.6)	15.9 (2.6)	<0.001	<0.001
Thalamic volume % change	−1.0 (9.9)	−2.9 (7.9)	0.118	0.153

pwRRMS-people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis; WI-weighted imaging; FLAIR – Fluid attenuated inversion recovery, CI – cognitively impaired, LVV – lateral ventricular volume, LV – lesion volume, WBV – whole brain volume, GMV – gray matter volume. PBVC − percent brain volume change, PGMVC – percent gray matter volume change, % − percent.

CI at baseline was defined as a cutoff score of SDMT (<44) used to define impaired cognitive processing, corresponding to < 1.5 SD below healthy normative values, as previously proposed. (Beier et al., 2017).

Volumes are shown in in milliliters. P-values lower than 0.05 were considered statistically significant and shown in bold.

^aAnalysis of covariance (ANCOVA) adjusted for age, time of follow-up, and baseline EDSS scores was used.

^bAnalysis of covariance (ANCOVA) adjusted for sex, time of follow-up, baseline EDSS scores and MRI center.