Table 2. Corneal Confocal Microscopic Measures and Peripapillary RNFL Thickness in Patients With MS and Healthy Control Participants.
| Measure | Healthy Control Participants (n = 30) |
Patients With MS | P Value | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total (n = 57) |
With ON (n = 28) |
Without ON (n = 29) |
Patients With MS vs Healthy Control | Patients With MS, With ON vs Without ON | Patients With MS, Without ON vs Healthy Control | Patients With MS, With ON vs Healthy Control | ||
| Nerve fiber density, mean (SD), fibers/mm2 | 33.5 (7.9) | 26.7 (10.2) | 27.4 (10.7) | 26.1 (9.9) | .002a | .85b | .01b | .045b |
| Nerve branch density, mean (SD), branches/mm2 | 54.9 (30.2) | 37.1 (20.3) | 38.6 (21.1) | 35.6 (19.8) | .001a | .88b | .008b | .03b |
| Nerve fiber length, mean (SD), mm/mm2 | 19.2 (3.7) | 16.1 (4.1) | 16.6 (4.4) | 15.7 (3.8) | .001a | .71b | .004b | .04b |
| RNFL thickness, mean (SD), µm | 102.2 (10.8) | 85.2 (15.2) | 79.5 (14.6) | 90.6 (14.1) | <.001a | .006b | .003b | <.001b |
| DC density, median (IQR), cells/mm2 | 17.3 (0-28.2) |
27.7 (12.4-66.8) |
30.5 (12.9-78.3) |
26.7 (0-62.3) |
.03c | .31d | .17d | .02d |
Abbreviations: DC, dendritic cells; IQR, interquartile range; MS, multiple sclerosis; ON, optic neuritis; RNFL, retinal nerve fiber layer.
a
Independent-samples t test.
b
One-way analysis of variance test followed by Tukey test.
c
Mann-Whitney test.
d
Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Mann-Whitney test with Bonferroni adjustment. (P < .017 [equal to .05/3] is considered statistically significant.)