Table 1.
Clinical characteristics
| HC | MS(BZD+) | MS(BZD‐) | P(ANOVA) | P(BZD) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | 46 | 22 | 68 | – | |
| Age (years) | 47.8 (12) | 47.8 (8) | 48.3 (10) | 0.95 | 0.70 |
| Education (years) | 15 (2) | 13.4 (2) | 14.1 (3) | 0.01 | 0.42 |
| Gender (M/F) | 19/27 | 1/21 | 26/42 | – | 0.003 |
| Disease duration (years) | – | 14.3 (6.7) | 16.8 (10) | – | 0.29 |
| EDSS | – | 3.25 [2.5–4.5] | 2.5 [2.0–4.0] | – | 0.03 |
| 25FWT (s) | – | 6.2 (1.8) | 5.5 (2.3) | – | 0.22 |
| 9HPT (s) | 19.6 (2.2) | 23.2 (5.7) | 23.2 (8.5) | 0.01 | 0.98 |
| BZD duration (years) | – | 3.5 [1–4] | – | – | – |
Note: P(ANOVA) denotes the p‐value of an unbalanced two‐way ANOVA with Group as factor with levels “HC”,“MS(BZD+)” and “MS(BZD‐)”. The p‐value P(BZD) assesses the comparison between the MS(BZD+) and MS(BZD‐) cohorts using a Wilcoxon rank‐sum test, except for gender where a Pearson's chi‐squared test was used. BZD duration refers to the duration of the respective BZD treatment. Age, education and disease duration are expressed in years and (X) refers to the SD. For EDSS and BZD duration, the values between square brackets denote the interquartile range.