No sex-specific difference in disease trajectory in multiple sclerosis patients before and after age 50

BMC Neurology

Table 2 Cross-sectional disease characteristics compared by age cohort (ages 38–46 vs. 54–62 years) and by sex

	Female			Male			Female vs. Male		Adjusted interaction analysis age cohort*sex
Cohort (years)	C1	C2	p	C1	C2	p	C1	C2	Adjusted interaction analysis age cohort*sex
	38-46	54-62		38-46	54-62		p	p
Clinical characteristics (mean +/- SD)
EDSS*	1.42 (1.33)	2.39 (1.99)	<0.0001	1.98 (1.88)	2.82 (2.31)	0.02	0.03	0.32	0.6
Relapse rate in prior two years %	0.34 (0.64)	0.05 (0.27)	<0.0001	0.41 (0.83)	0.05 (0.22)	0.03	0.84	0.84	0.84
MRI characteristics (mean +/- SD) +
BPF	0.88 (0.04)	0.85 (0.04)	<0.0001	0.85 (0.04)	0.81 (0.04)	<0.0001	0.0002	0.0004	0.34
T2 Lesion volume	3.91 (3.06)	5.29 (5.76)	0.11	4.42 (3.84)	6.11 (6.31)	0.41	0.36	0.63	0.98
Patient- reported outcomes (mean +/- SD) ^
CES- D	29.5 (8.28)	28.18 (8.24)	0.26	30.94 (8.22)	29.86 (8.53)	0.63	0.3	0.43	0.93
MFIS	24.64 (16.27)	28.52 (16.9)	0.1	27.33 (20.23)	28.24 (19.52)	0.86	0.42	0.95	0.5
SF-36 *PCS*	49.08 (8.99)	45.34 (11.08)	0.01	48.85 (9.14)	46.44 (10.77)	0.37	0.88	0.68	0.55
SF-36 *MCS*	49.05 (10.02)	50.03 (9.26)	0.48	47.51 (9.12)	48.11 (8.7)	0.8	0.33	0.37	1

Legend: EDSS, expanded disability status scale, BPF, brain parenchymal fraction, CES-D, Center for Epidemiological Study, MFIS, Modified Fatigue Impact Scale *: N=551. The group comparisons were completed with a Wilcoxon test, and the interaction analysis was completed with a proportional odds model %: N=285. The group comparisons were completed with a Wilcoxon test, and the interaction analysis was completed with a negative binomial regression model +: N=308. The BPF and log-transformed T2 lesion volume were compared using a t-test, and the interaction analysis was completed with linear regression ^: N=287. All comparisons were made using a t-test, and the interaction analysis was completed with linear regression.

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