Table 1.

Major demographic and clinical characteristics of 139 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), including 102 with relapsing remitting MS (RRMS) and 37 with secondary progressive MS (SPMS); 68 healthy controls (HC), 39 patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and 21 patients with Alzheimer’s disease (ALZ) were also tested.

Characteristics	MS (n = 139)	RRMS (n = 102)	SPMS (n = 37)	HC (n = 68)	PD (n = 39)	ALZ (n = 21)	p (MS vs HC)	p (RRMS vs SPMS)	p (RRMS vs HC)	p (SPMS vs HC)	p (MS vs PD)	p (MS vs ALZ)
Sex (M/F)	41(29.5%)/98(70.5%)	32(31.4%)/70(68.6%)	9(24.3%)/28(75.7%)	28(41.2%)/40(58.8%)	19 (48.7%)/20(51.3%)	8 (38.1%)/13 (61.9%)	ns	ns	ns	ns (0.093†)	0.034 †	ns
Age	43.2 ± 12	39.2 ± 9.8	54.5 ± 10	47.4 ± 16.9	68.7 ± 9.4	77.7 ± 7.5	ns	0.000 ‡	0.000 ‡	0.008 ‡	0.000 ‡	0.000 ‡
Age at Onset	31.7 ± 10.4	29.2 ± 9	38.6 ± 11.2	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	0.000 ‡	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Duration	11.5 ± 7.2	10 ± 6	15.9 ± 8.4	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	0.000 ‡	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
EDSS	3.5 ± 2.2	2.8 ± 1.9	5.5 ± 1.8	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	0.000 ‡	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Number of Relapses	5.1 ± 3.5	5.44 ± 3.7	4.2 ± 3	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	0.049 ‡	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Progression Index	0.42 ± 0.54	0.38 ± 0.41	0.53 ± 0.8	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	ns	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Anti-Hp positive	60(43.2%)	41(40.2%)	19(51.4%)	33(48.5%)	14(35.9%)	10(47.6%)	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns

Data represent mean ± standard deviation. ^†p-values were calculated using Pearson Chi-Square or Fisher’s Exact Test (2-sided). ^‡p-values were calculated using 2-tailed t-test for Equality of Means, equal variances were not assumed. p-values < 0.05 are shown in bold; p-values with a statistical tendency (<0.1) are also shown. Abbreviations: EDSS, expanded disability status scale; F, female; Hp, Helicobacter pylori; M, male; ns, not significant; N/A, non-applicable.