Table 2.

Plasma NfL and GFAP levels in controls, asymptomatic patients, and symptomatic patients.

	Control	Asymptomatic	Symptomatic	P‐value	Effect size	Post hoc comparisons
Males
N	74	13	32
Age, y	44.1 ± 10.8	29.3 ± 13.4	49.9 ± 14.1	<0.001		(C‐A, A‐S)
NfL, pg/mL	6.2 (5.2‐8.4)	8.9 (6.0‐11.2)	13.4 (10.2‐16.3)	<0.001	0.50	(C‐A, C‐S)
GFAP, pg/mL	70.1 (55.6‐93.1)	76.5 (63.7‐93.6)	99.4 (72.7‐121.9)	0.001	0.13	(C‐A, C‐S)
Females
N	61	22	25
Age, y	47.7 ± 8.1	45.8 ± 9.7	60.5 ± 10.2	<0.001		(C‐S, A‐S)
NfL, pg/mL	6.5 (5.6‐8.9)	8.9 (7.0‐10.3)	14.2 (9.6‐17.3)	<0.001	0.22	(C‐A, C‐S)
GFAP, pg/mL	71.9 (57.4‐98.2)	109.6 (84.4‐141.7)	148.6 (110.9‐217.6)	<0.001	0.28	(C‐A, C‐S)

Values are displayed as mean ± SD for normally distributed data and median (interquartile range) for non‐normally distributed data. Plasma NfL and GFAP levels are the uncorrected medians (not corrected for age). Kruskal–Wallis test was used to assess between‐group differences in age. ANCOVA was used to assess between‐group differences in NfL and GFAP levels, p‐values represent the significance level after correction for age. Post hoc comparisons indicate which groups significantly differ from each other after Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. Effect sizes are the partial eta squared values from the ANCOVA models.

A‐S, asymptomatic versus symptomatic; C‐A, control versus asymptomatic; C‐S, control versus symptomatic; GFAP, Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; NfL, neurofilament light.