Table 5.
Cross–sectional and longitudinal MRI changes between PwMS with <30 and ≥30 pg/mL sNfL levels.
| PwMS (n = 120) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| sNfL < 30 (n = 87) | sNfL ≥ 30 (n = 33) | P‐value | |
| Female, n (%) | 61 (70.1) | 24 (72.7) | 0.779 |
| Age, mean (SD) | 46.4 (10.8) | 52.7 (10.9) | 0.005 |
| Disease duration, mean (SD) | 14.5 (9.8) | 20.4 (10.7) | 0.005 |
| RRMS/PMS | 67/20 | 17/16 | 0.007 |
| EDSS at baseline, median (IQR) | 2.5 (2.0–4.0) | 6.0 (3.0–6.5) | <0.001 |
| LMCE at follow‐up, n (%) | 19 (29.7) | 12 (50.0) | 0.076 |
| T1‐LV, mean (SD) | 2.5 (5.8) | 5.9 (11.8) | 0.279 |
| T2‐LV, mean (SD) | 11.6 (14.7) | 27.0 (27.1) | 0.002 |
| Gd‐LV, mean (SD) | 0.01 (0.07) | 0.3 (1.0) | <0.001 |
| WBV, mean (SD) | 1466.6 (93.8) | 1396.2 (93.8) | 0.131 |
| WMV, mean (SD) | 727.7 (64.4) | 694.4 (57.5) | 0.103 |
| GMV, mean (SD) | 738.9 (61.1) | 701.7 (62.9) | 0.595 |
| CV, mean (SD) | 599.4 (48.8) | 567.5 (52.2) | 0.494 |
| Total DGM, mean (SD) | 57.5 (6.9) | 51.6 (6.6) | 0.013 |
| Thalamus, mean (SD) | 19.0 (2.5) | 17.1 (2.5) | 0.046 |
| Caudate, mean (SD) | 8.6 (1.2) | 7.4 (1.3) | 0.001 |
| Putamen, mean (SD) | 12.2 (1.7) | 10.9 (1.6) | 0.03 |
| Globus pallidus, mean (SD) | 4.3 (0.7) | 4.0 (0.7) | 0.369 |
| Hippocampus, mean (SD) | 9.2 (1.3) | 8.2 (1.1) | 0.009 |
| Longitudinal change | |||
| T1‐LV, mean (SD) | −0.04 (1.1) | 1.0 (2.7) | 0.898 |
| T2‐LV, mean (SD) | 0.2 (2.9) | 1.1 (8.6) | 0.396 |
| Gd‐LV, mean (SD) | −0.009 (0.07) | −0.3 (1.1) | 0.054 |
| WBV, mean (SD) | −3.0 (1.8) | −4.5 (2.5) | <0.001 |
| WMV, mean (SD) | −1.7 (4.8) | −1.1 (2.6) | 0.743 |
| GMV, mean (SD) | −1.7 (2.8) | −3.5 (2.4) | 0.01 |
| CV, mean (SD) | −1.7 (2.9) | −3.4 (2.8) | 0.01 |
| Total DGM, mean (SD) | −5.6 (3.5) | −7.1 (4.8) | 0.078 |
| Thalamus, mean (SD) | −5.7 (4.4) | −6.9 (4.4) | 0.044 |
| Caudate, mean (SD) | −5.2 (5.3) | −3.7 (10.7) | 0.281 |
| Putamen, mean (SD) | −3.5 (6.6) | −7.9 (8.4) | 0.008 |
| Globus pallidus, mean (SD) | −9.1 (8.4) | −12.0 (8.9) | 0.138 |
| Hippocampus, mean (SD) | −5.7 (7.0) | −4.7 (7.1) | 0.337 |
PwMS, persons with multiple sclerosis; RRMS, relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis; PMS, progressive multiple sclerosis; DGM, deep gray matter; LMCE, leptomeningeal contrast enhancement; LV, lesion volume; Gd, gadolinium; WBV, whole brain volume; WMV, white matter volume; GMV, gray matter volume; CV, cortical volume; IQR, interquartile range; SD, standard deviation.
Longitudinal change for MRI–lesion derived outcomes was used in mL, whereas for brain volumes, the percentage changes were used.
3D FLAIR postcontrast imaging was available for 64 MS patients <30 pg/mL sNfL and 24 MS patients with ≥30 pg/mL sNfL.
P‐values <0.05 were considered significant. Student’s t‐test, Mann–Whitney U‐test and χ 2‐test were used appropriately. The MRI–derived comparison between the <30 pg/mL and ≥30 pg/mL groups were derived using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) adjusted for baseline differences in age, sex, disease phenotype and EDSS scores. In bold are displayed significant P‐values.