. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Mar 29.

Published in final edited form as: J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2009 Feb 9;80(11):1218–1223. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.2008.154732

Table 1.

Baseline characteristics of the patients

	RRMS₁	RRMS₂	RRMS₃	Univariate p value
No of patients	116	26	109
Sex (F/M)	83/33	18/8	85/24	0.81
Age (mean (SD))	34.1 (7.5)	36.7 (7.2)	34.9 (7.2)	0.14
Disease duration (years from first symptom) (mean (SD))	4.9 (3.8)	10.4 (7.8)	4.7 (4.0)	0.002
EDSS score (median (interquartile range))	2 (1.5, 3.5)	1.5 (1, 2.5)	2 (1.5, 3)	0.006
WMV (mm³) (mean (SD))	868 423 (85 185)	827 068 (68 313)	856 305 (78 411)	0.021
GMV (mm³) (mean (SD))	683 707 (70 808)	693 395 (65 936)	688 304 (70 588)	0.51
BPV (mm³) (mean (SD))	1 552 130 (103 000)	1 520 463 (95 968)	1 544 609 (87 652)	0.14

Univariate p values are from Wilcoxon tests comparing RRMS₁ and RRMS₂; similar p values were obtained from the three group comparison.

BPV, brain parenchymal volume; EDSS, expanded disability status scale; GMV, gray matter volume; RRMS, relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis; RRMS₁, untreated cohort of RRMS patients observed monthly for 9 months¹⁴; RRMS₂, untreated cohort of RRMS patients observed every 3 months for 1.5 years¹⁷; RRMS₃, treated cohort of RRMS patients observed monthly for 9 months¹⁴; WMV, white matter volume.