Table 1.
Patient characteristics
| |
Disease-modifying therapy for MS |
|
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GA | SC IFN-β-1b | SC IFN-β-1a | IM IFN-β-1a | Total group | P-value* | |
| No. of patients |
44 (19%) |
60 (26%) |
66 (29%) |
59 (26%) |
229 (100%) |
|
| Age in years at time of enrolment |
48 (40–54) |
51 (44–58) |
45 (40–52) |
49 (41–55) |
48 (41–54) |
0.025 |
| No. of female patients |
37 (84%) |
40 (67%) |
46 (70%) |
45 (76%) |
168 (73%) |
0.197 |
| Body mass index in kg/m2 |
25 (22–27) |
25 (23–27) |
25 (23–27) |
25 (22–27) |
25 (23–27) |
0.871 |
| Duration of MS in years |
8 (4–17) |
11 (4–17) |
7 (3–13) |
10 (4–14) |
9 (4–16) |
0.192 |
| Duration of DMT in years |
5 (3–8) |
5 (3–12) |
4 (3–8) |
5 (4–10) |
5 (3–9) |
0.177 |
| Use of auto-injector for injections of DMT | 33 (75%) | 52 (87%) | 49 (74%) | 18 (31%) | 152 (66%) | < 0.001 |
Data are presented as medians (interquartile range) or numbers (percentages).
Abbreviations: GA glatiramer acetate, IFN interferon, IM intramuscular, MS multiple sclerosis, SC subcutaneous.
*Differences between the groups were tested with the Kruskal Wallis test or the Chi square test.