Table 1.
N, number of participants; unless otherwise reported mean [standard deviation] (range) is given.
| PPMS (N = 50) | ALS (N = 50) |
HC (N = 50) |
PPMS study centers | P-values | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
MD (N = 25) |
Berlin (N = 12) | Kiel (N = 13) | MD vs. Berlin | MD vs. Kiel | Berlin vs. Kiel | PPMS vs. HC | PPMS vs. ALS | ALS vs. HC | ||||
| Age at lumbar puncture (years) | 53 [11] (25–77) | 54 [10] (33–74) | 53 [11] (34–76) | 51 [11] (25–71) | 57 [13] (35–77) | 55 [10] (36–73) | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| Male sex, N (%) | 29 (58) | 33 (66) | 24 (48) | 17 (68) | 7 (58) | 5 (39) | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Disease duration (months) | 86 [92] (2–94) | – | – | 86 [73] (6–255) | 92 [90] (2–353) | 82 [128] (10–494) | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | – | – | – |
| Median EDSS | 6 (2–8) | – | – | 5 (2–7.5) | 6 (3–8) | 4.5 (3–8) | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | – | – | – |
| ≥1 Spinal cord lesions N (%) | 34 (68) | – | – | 17 (68) | 5 (42) | 12 (92) | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| ≥1 cerebral T2 lesion N (%) | 50 (100) | – | – | 25 (100) | 12 (100) | 13 (100) | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Pathological VEP, N (%) | 31 (62) | – | – | 18 (72) | 6 (50) | 7 (54) | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Treatment, N (%) | 11 (22) | – | – | 1 (4) | 10 (83) | 0 (0) | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Median CSF Cell count /μl | 2.5 (0–131) | 1 (0–6) | 1 (0–4) | 3 (0–14) | 2 (0–29) | 4 (1–131) | 1.0 | 0.02 | 0.3 | < 0.001 | 0.001 | 1.0 |
| Median CSF protein (mg/dl) | 441 (236–1047) | 480 (187–1240) | 351 (179–616) | 407 (248–1047) | 451 (236–767) | 517 (312–875) | 0.08 | 0.08 | 0.08 | 0.001 | 1.0 | < 0.001 |
| Positive OCB, N (%) | 42 (84) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 24 (96) | 9 (75) | 9 (69) | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | – | – | – |
| Median Qalb | 6.0 (2.0–18.8) |
6.8 (2.4–16.6) |
4.8 (1.5–10.5) |
5.0 (2.0–18.8) |
6.8 (4.2–12.6) |
8.2 (3.2–15.2) |
0.2 | 0.030 | 1.0 | 0.016 | 1.0 | 0.003 |
| Median CSF-NFL (pg/ml) | 1724 (799–4275) | 10238 (2610–35138) | 1202 (612–2934) | 1668 (990–4275) | 1591 (877–2557) | 2016 (799–4158) | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.015 | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; EDSS, Expanded Disability Status Scale; HC, healthy controls; MD, Magdeburg; NFL, neurofilament light chain; OCB, oligoclonal bands; PPMS, primary progressive multiple sclerosis; Qalb, albumin quotient; VEP, visual evoked potential. Disease duration was defined as the timespan between symptom onset and the date of lumbar puncture. For group comparisons a χ2-test or a Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance with post-hoc Dunn-Bonferroni-testing were conducted. P-values < 0.05 were deemed to be statistically significant (Bold).