Table 2.
Timeline of key assessments and measurements throughout the study period.
| Assessment | Detail | Baseline | 6 months | 12 months | 24 months | 36 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demographics: | ✓ | |||||
| Age, sex, weight | ✓ | |||||
| Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Height | ✓ | |||||
| Race/ethnicity | Caucasian/White; Black/African descent; Hispanic/Latino; Asian (including East, South, Southeast, and Central Asian); indigenous/native peoples; Middle Eastern/Arab; mixed/multiple races; other | ✓ | ||||
| Education level | No education; low education (primary/elementary); mid-level education (secondary/high school); vocational/technical training; higher education (undergraduate); advanced education (postgraduate) | ✓ | ||||
| Geographic location | The classification of geographic location is based on the center that prepared the data. | ✓ | ||||
| Medical history: | Diagnosis; disease onset; attack/relapse history [number of relapse(s)**]; current symptoms and complaints; vaccination history; previous infections; fertility history | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Comorbid conditions: | The list of comorbid conditions, along with the corresponding questionnaires and clinical examinations, can be found in Table 3 . This also includes the date of diagnosis, the severity (when available), the number of comorbid conditions grouped by main categories, and the actual raw numbers. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Risk factors: | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Smoking | Status: never smoked; former smoker; current smoker Duration: number of years smoking Intensity: average number of cigarettes/day (e.g., 1 pack/day = 20 cigarettes) |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Alcohol consumption | Frequency: daily; weekly; monthly; rarely; never Quantity: average number of drinks/sessions |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Family medical history Dietary and lifestyle factors |
Specific illnesses in first-degree relatives (e.g., cardiovascular disease and diabetes) Level of physical activity |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Previous injuries/surgeries | Type of injury/surgery (e.g., fractures, surgeries, and traumatic events) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Therapies: | Treatment status; relapse therapy; full drug list | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Neurological examinations | EDSS*** | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Quantitative assessment of motor functions | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Hand grip force | Handheld dynamometer, 3× each side | |||||
| Timed tests | T25−FW, 9−HPT | |||||
| Visuo−perceptive motion analysis PASS−MS |
Short walks, static balance, stand−up and sit, stepping in place, finger tapping, finger−nose test | |||||
| Patient-reported outcomes (PRO) | Neuro-QOL Fatigue Scale, European Quality of Life–5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) index, EQ-5D visual analog scale (VAS) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cognitive assessment | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Interview | Handedness, education | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Cognitive function: includes the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) | Various cognitive domains such as memory, attention, language, abstraction, delayed recall, orientation, and visuospatial skills | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Biospecimens* | Blood samples, cerebrospinal fluid | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Vision and the visual system* | Refraction, high− and low−contrast visual acuity, perimetry, VEP, OCT of the macula and optic nerve head, OCT/A (optional: multifocal VEP), NEI-VFQ-25 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| CNS magnetic resonance imaging* | Cerebral: MPRAGE, T2−SPACE, FLAIR, MPM, DWI, rsfMRI Spinal: STIR (whole spine), PSIR (C2 and C3 and C7/T1) |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
*Further details can be found in the Method section.
**Number of relapse(s) (a new or worsening acute neurologic symptom lasting ≥24 h and not explained by fever or infection).
***Disability assessment with alteration in EDSS score of at least 0.5 from baseline at the clinical visits.
– All are relevant for healthy controls and are only assessed at the baseline visit.