Table 1.
Demographic details of the study population
| PLS | HC | PLS vs HC t-test +/Chi-square test++ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of subjects at baseline (T1/dMRI/rs-fMRI) | 43 (43/41/39) | 113 (113/113/111) | n.a |
| Number of subjects at Time-point 2 (T1/ dMRI/rs-fMRI) | 8 (30/29/27) | 18 (18/18/18) | n.a |
| Number of subjects at Time-point 3 (T1/ dMRI/rs-fMRI) | 7 (25/25/23) | 13 (13/13/13) | n.a |
| Number of subjects at Time-point 4 (T1/ dMRI/rs-fMRI) | 3 (20/19/15) | 8 (8/8/8) | n.a |
| Age [y, mean ± SD] | 55.50 ± 9.05 | 59.36 ± 10.66 |
t(80.33) = 1.33, p = .188 |
| Years of education [y, mean ± SD] | 12.18 ± 3.25 | 14.77 ± 3.46 |
t(71.04) = – 4.05, p = .001* |
| Sex, F/M | 16/27 | 57/56 |
X2(1, N = 156) = 1.69, p = .193 |
| Handedness, R/L | 39/4 | 106/7 |
X2(1, N = 156) = 0.11, p = .736 |
| Years of symptom duration [y, mean ± SD] | 109.75 ± 70.46 | n.a | n.a |
#Follow-up scans were acquired with an inter-scan interval of four months
dMRI diffusion-weighted imaging, F female, rs-fMRI resting-state functional MRI, HC healthy control, L left-handed, M male, MRI magnetic resonance imaging, n.a. not applicable / not available, PLS primary lateral sclerosis, R right-handed, SD standard deviation, y years
+Welch two-sample t-tests [t] were performed to test differences of age and years of education between all PLS vs. HC
++Chi-square tests [X2] were performed to test differences of sex and handedness frequencies between all PLS patients vs. HC
*significant at an alpha-level of p ≤ 0.05