Table 2.

Correlation between (a) Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), Fatigue Scale for Motor and Cognitive functions (FSMC) or disease duration and effective connectivity (EC) values between baseline (t₁ = 0 months) and the last follow-up (t₅ = 12 months) calculated as ΔEC = EC [t₅] − EC [t₁]. Higher ΔEC values correspond to more rapidly increasing EC. Only significant directed connections from the deep grey matter nuclei (DGMN), frontal, prefrontal and temporal regions were considered in the correlation analyses between ΔEC and the three clinical parameters.

Correlation with …	ΔEC from …	To …	CBN analysis		TPDC analysis
			Pearson’s r	p-value(a)	Pearson’s r	p-value(a)
EDSS	frontal	prefrontal	−0.58	0.0003	−0.71	0.0004
	frontal	cerebellum	−0.52	0.0007	−0.65	0.0002
FSMC	frontal	cerebellum	−0.54	0.0005	−0.62	0.0080
Disease duration	frontal	prefrontal	−0.50	0.0008	−0.58	0.0003
	frontal	cerebellum	−0.69	0.0006	−0.77	0.0008
	DGMN	prefrontal	0.62	0.0005	0.54	0.0005
	DGMN	parietal	0.67	0.0004	0.59	0.0007
	temporal	DGMN	0.66	0.0028	0.58	0.0064

EDSS Expanded Disability Status Scale.

FSMC Fatigue Scale for Motor and Cognitive functions.

EC Effective connectivity.

CBN Causal Bayesian Networks.

TPDC Time-resolved Partial Directed Coherence.

Bonferroni’s corrected p-values.