Table 1.

Baseline characteristics between patients with multiple sclerosis and those with seropositive (anti‐aquaporin‐4 antibody) neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders.

	MS	NMOSD	P	P †
	(n = 117)	(n = 63)
Age at present	45 [34–54]	54 [46–60]	<0.001
Age at onset	33 [25–42]	44 [35–52]	<0.001
Follow‐up, years	10 [5–13]	8 [3–14]	0.077
Days from the last attack	1068 [387–2883]	633 [127–1311]	0.002
Female	85 (72.6)	57 (90.5)	0.005
No. of attacks	3 [1–4]	3 [2–5]	0.265
No. of ON attacks	0 [0–1]	1 [0–2]	0.087
No. of TM attacks	1 [0–2]	2 [1–3]	0.011
No. of Brain attacks	1 [0–2]	0 [0–1]	0.021
Recent relapse, <60 d	8 (6.9)	12 (19.0)	0.014
Annual Relapse Rate	0.3 [0.2–0.6]	0.5 [0.3–0.8]	0.001
Monophasic, n (%)	30 (25.6)	13 (20.6)	0.452
Simultaneous attacks*	6 (5.1)	7 (11.1)	0.225
(any time)
EDSS, median (quartiles)	2.0 [1.0–4.0]	3.5 [2.0–5.0]	0.007
Treatments
Any immunomodulating agent	103 (88.0)	63 (100.0)	0.002
Prednisolone	11 (9.4)	31 (49.2)	<0.001
Azathioprine	0 (0.0)	32 (50.0)	<0.001
Mycophenolate mofetil	2 (1.7)	11 (17.5)	<0.001
Interferon‐β	33 (28.2)	0 (0.0)	<0.001
Teriflunomide	31 (26.5)	0 (0.0)	<0.001
Dimethyl fumarate	7 (6.0)	0 (0.0)	0.098
Glatiramer acetate	4 (3.4)	0 (0.0)	0.289
Fingolimod	7 (6.0)	0 (0.0)	0.054
Alemtuzumab	12 (10.3)	0 (0.0)	0.009
Rituximab	0 (0.0)	16 (25.4)	<0.001
Simoa markers
NfL (pg/mL) ‡	10.2 [8.2–15.1] (n = 113)	14.6 [10.2–22.7] (n = 61)	0.001	0.356
GFAP (pg/mL) ‡	95.0 [70.0–130.4] (n = 112)	126.8 [97.3–225.1] (n = 56)	<0.001	0.014

EDSS, Expanded Disability Severity Scale; GFAP, glial fibrillary acidic protein; MS, multiple sclerosis; NfL, neurofilament light chain; NMOSD, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders; ON, optic neuritis; TM, transverse myelitis.

^*Simultaneous attacks of optic neuritis and transverse myelitis.

^† P value after adjustment for age, EDSS score, days from the last attack to blood sampling, recent relapse <60 days.

^‡Statistical analyses with these variables were performed with log‐transformed values.