Table 2.
Demographic and clinical characteristics of study participants (n=98)
| n | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Sex | ||
| Female | 78 | 79.6 |
| Male | 20 | 20.4 |
| Marital status | ||
| Living alone | 41 | 41.8 |
| Living with a partner | 57 | 58.2 |
| Education | ||
| University degree | 41 | 41.8 |
| Polytechnic degree/vocational training | 57 | 58.2 |
| Number of previous MS drugs | ||
| None | 31 | 31.6 |
| One | 43 | 43.9 |
| Two | 18 | 18.4 |
| Three | 5 | 5.1 |
| Four | 1 | 1.0 |
| Previous DMTa | ||
| iDMTs | 51 | 76 |
| Interferon beta 1b | 16 | 24 |
| Interferon beta 1a SC | 8 | 12 |
| Interferon beta 1a IM | 14 | 21 |
| Glatiramer acetate | 13 | 19 |
| ivDMTs | 16 | 24 |
| Natalizumab | 14 | 21 |
| Mitoxantrone | 2 | 3 |
| Median | IQR (Q1; Q3) | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 41.0 | [31.0; 46.0] | 22.0–71.0 |
| Years since diagnosis | 4.6 | [1.0; 11.4] | 0.2–36.4 |
| Number of years of treatment | 2.2 | [0.0; 8.8] | 0.0–25.0 |
Notes:
a
Previous DMT means the type of DMT the patient had before switching to fingolimod. Table modified from Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders 4(5); Zimmer A, Blaeuer C, Coslovsky M, Kappos L, Derfuss T. Optimizing treatment initiation: Effects of a patient education program on fingolimod treatment on knowledge, self-efficacy and satisfaction, pp 444–450, 2015, with permission of Elsevier.24
Abbreviations: MS, multiple sclerosis; DMT, disease-modifying treatment; SC, subcutaneous; IM, intramuscular; iDMTs, injectable DMTs; ivDMTs, intravenous DMTs.