ePrints

Early Clinical Features, Time to Secondary Progression, and Disability Milestones in Polish Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Lookup NU author(s): Emerita Professor Julia Newton

Downloads

• Published version [.pdf]

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Determining the clinical course of multiple sclerosis (MS) and prediction of long-term disability can be a big challenge. To determine early clinical features of MS, their influence on long-term disability progression, and time to transition from relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) to secondary progressive MS (SPMS), a cohort of Polish patients was studied. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 375 Polish MS patients based on data from available medical records. We assessed early clinical MS features and the relationship between demographics and time from disease onset to attainment of 4 and 6 points on the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), as well as time to conversion from RRMS to SPMS. Results: The differences between initial MS variants were significantly associated with gender, age at disease onset, number and type of the first symptoms, and rate of the disability accrual. Mean times from disease onset to attainment of EDSS 4 and 6 were significantly influenced by the disease variant, age at onset, gender, degree of recovery from the initial symptoms, and first inter-bouts interval. The mean time to secondary progression was significantly influenced by the number and type of the first symptoms of RRMS. Conclusions: Early clinical features of MS are important in determining the disease variant, the time to transition from RRMS to SPMS, as well as predicting the disability accumulation of patients. Despite the small differences regarding the first MS symptoms, the disability outcomes in the cohort of Polish patients are similar to other regions of the world.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Rzepinski L, Zawadka-Kunikowska M, Maciejek Z, Newton JL, Zalewski P

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Medicina

Year: 2019

Volume: 55

Issue: 6

Online publication date: 31/05/2019

Acceptance date: 29/05/2019

Date deposited: 24/06/2019

ISSN (electronic): 1010-660X

Publisher: MDPI AG

URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina55060232

DOI: 10.3390/medicina55060232

PubMed id: 31159275

Altmetrics

Share