Table 1.
Sociodemographic, clinical and pharmaceutical data of MS patients with and without pDDIs.
| Parameter | All patients (N = 627) | Patients with ⩾1 pDDI (N = 408) | Patients with no pDDI (N = 219) | p-value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sociodemographic data | |||||||
| Sex | 0.927 a | ||||||
| Female | 441 (70.3%) | 286 (70.1%) | 155 (70.8%) | ||||
| Male | 186 (29.7%) | 122 (29.9%) | 64 (29.2%) | ||||
| Age (years) | 19–86 b | 48.6 (13.3) c | 21–86 b | 51.9 (12.6) c | 19–75 b | 42.5 (12.5) c | <0.001 d |
| School years | 6–18 b | 10.5 (1.3) c | 6–18 b | 10.3 (1.2) c | 8–14 b | 10.8 (1.3) c | <0.001 d |
| Educational level | <0.001 e | ||||||
| No training | 19 (3.0%) | 12 (2.9%) | 7 (3.2%) | ||||
| Skilled worker | 398 (63.5%) | 280 (68.6%) | 118 (53.9%) | ||||
| Technical college | 89 (14.2%) | 56 (13.7%) | 33 (15.1%) | ||||
| University | 121 (19.3%) | 60 (14.7%) | 61 (27.9%) | ||||
| Employment status | <0.001 e | ||||||
| In training | 7 (1.1%) | 2 (0.5%) | 5 (2.3%) | ||||
| In studies | 6 (1.0%) | 1 (0.2%) | 5 (2.3%) | ||||
| Employed | 269 (42.9%) | 130 (31.9%) | 139 (63.5%) | ||||
| Unemployed | 25 (4.0%) | 13 (3.2%) | 12 (5.5%) | ||||
| Retired | 304 (48.5%) | 253 (62.0%) | 51 (23.3%) | ||||
| Others | 16 (2.6%) | 9 (2.2%) | 7 (3.2%) | ||||
| Partnership | 0.702 a | ||||||
| No | 162 (25.8%) | 103 (25.2%) | 59 (26.9%) | ||||
| Yes | 465 (74.2%) | 305 (74.8%) | 160 (73.1%) | ||||
| Place of residence | 0.040 e | ||||||
| Rural community | 224 (35.7%) | 150 (36.8%) | 74 (33.8%) | ||||
| Provincial town | 108 (17.2%) | 77 (18.9%) | 31 (14.2%) | ||||
| Medium-sized town | 112 (17.9%) | 77 (18.9%) | 35 (16.0%) | ||||
| City | 183 (29.3%) | 104 (25.5%) | 79 (36.1%) | ||||
| Number of children | 0–4 b | 1 f | 0–4 b | 1 f | 0–4 b | 1 f | 0.003 g |
| 0 | 169 (27.0%) | 91 (22.3%) | 78 (35.6%) | ||||
| 1 | 170 (27.1%) | 118 (28.9%) | 52 (23.7%) | ||||
| ⩾2 | 288 (45.9%) | 199 (48.8%) | 89 (40.6%) | ||||
| Number of siblings | 0–13 b | 1 f | 0–13 b | 1 f | 0–11 b | 1 f | 0.035 g |
| 0 | 71 (11.3%) | 40 (9.8%) | 31 (14.2%) | ||||
| 1 | 305 (48.6%) | 194 (47.5%) | 111 (50.7%) | ||||
| ⩾2 | 251 (40.0%) | 174 (42.6%) | 77 (35.2%) | ||||
| Clinical data | |||||||
| EDSS score | 0–9.0 b | 3.5 f | 0–9.0 b | 4.0 f | 0–7.5 b | 2.0 f | <0.001 g |
| Disease duration (years) | 0–52 b | 10 f | 0–50 b | 12 f | 0–52 b | 9 f | <0.001 g |
| Disease course | <0.001 e | ||||||
| CIS/RRMS | 415 (66.2%) | 223 (54.7%) | 192 (87.7%) | ||||
| SPMS | 154 (24.6%) | 136 (33.3%) | 18 (8.2%) | ||||
| PPMS | 58 (9.3%) | 49 (12.0%) | 9 (4.1%) | ||||
| Comorbidities | 0–9 b | 1 f | 0–9 b | 1 f | 0–7 b | 0 f | <0.001 g |
| No | 184 (29.3%) | 68 (16.7%) | 116 (53.0%) | ||||
| Yes | 443 (70.7%) | 340 (83.3%) | 103 (47.0%) | ||||
| Polypharmacy | <0.001 a | ||||||
| No | 293 (46.7%) | 97 (23.8%) | 196 (89.5%) | ||||
| Yes | 334 (53.3%) | 311 (76.2%) | 23 (10.5%) | ||||
| Pharmaceutical data | |||||||
| Number of drugs taken | 0–19 b | 5 f | 2–19 b | 6 f | 0–9 b | 2 f | <0.001 g |
| 0 | 7 (1.1%) | 0 (0.0%) | 7 (3.2%) | ||||
| 1–4 | 286 (45.6%) | 97 (23.8%) | 189 (86.3%) | ||||
| 5–9 | 261 (41.6%) | 238 (58.3%) | 23 (10.5%) | ||||
| ⩾ 10 | 73 (11.6%) | 73 (17.9%) | 0 (0.0%) | ||||
| Drugs divided by | |||||||
| Period of drug intake | |||||||
| Long-term drugs | 0–16 b | 4.6 (3.1) h | 1–16 b | 5.8 (3.0) h | 0–9 b | 2.2 (1.5) h | <0.001 g |
| PRN drugs | 0–7 b | 0.8 (1.2) h | 0–7 b | 1.0 (1.3) h | 0–5 b | 0.4 (0.8) h | <0.001 g |
| Access | |||||||
| Rx drugs | 0–18 b | 4.2 (3.0) h | 1–18 b | 5.4 (3.0) h | 0–6 b | 1.9 (1.2) h | <0.001 g |
| OTC drugs | 0–8 b | 1.1 (1.3) h | 0–8 b | 1.4 (1.3) h | 0–7 b | 0.7 (1.1) h | <0.001 g |
| Therapy goal | |||||||
| DMDs | 0–2 b | 0.9 (0.4) h | 0–2 b | 0.9 (0.4) h | 0–1 b | 0.7 (0.4) h | <0.001 g |
| Symptomatic drugs | 0–9 b | 2.0 (2.0) h | 0–9 b | 2.6 (2.0) h | 0–8 b | 0.8 (1.1) h | <0.001 g |
| Comorbidity drugs | 0–14 b | 2.5 (2.4) h | 0–14 b | 3.3 (2.6) h | 0–6 b | 1.0 (1.1) h | <0.001 g |
p-value for comparing patients with and without pDDIs (significant differences are indicated in bold). CIS, clinically isolated syndrome; DMD, disease-modifying drug; EDSS, Expanded Disability Status Scale; MS, multiple sclerosis; N, number of patients; OTC, over-the-counter; pDDI, potential drug–drug interaction, PPMS, primary progressive MS; PRN, pro re nata; RRMS, relapsing-remitting MS; Rx, prescription; SPMS, secondary progressive MS.
a
Fisher’s exact test.
b
Range.
c
Mean value (standard deviation).
d
Two-sample two-tailed t test.
e
Chi-squared test.
f
Median.
g
Mann–Whitney U test.
h
Average number of drugs taken per patient (standard deviation).