Determinants of Disability in Multiple Sclerosis: An Immunological and MRI Study

Table 3

Conventional and DT MRI findings from patients with different MS phenotypes.

	BMS			RRMS			SPMS			BMS versus RRMS	BMS versus SPMS	SPMS versus RRMS
	LS mean	95% CL		LS mean	95% CL		LS mean	95% CL
LV	10.6	4.5	16.6	6.8	−2.3	16.0	28.4	21.9	35.0	ns	ns	ns
NBV	1483.3	1452.4	1514.2	1564.3	1517.3	1611.3	1386.1	1352.6	1419.6	ns	0.001	0.003
NCV	605.3	579.0	631.6	642.8	602.8	682.7	516.9	488.4	545.4	ns	ns	ns
NGMV	759.1	726.1	792.2	809.9	759.7	860.2	644.1	608.3	679.9	ns	<0.001	0.0001
NWMV	724.1	706.6	741.6	754.3	727.7	781.0	742.0	723.0	761.0	ns	ns	ns
Left CST FA	0.505	0.486	0.524	0.536	0.506	0.565	0.455	0.434	0.476	ns	<0.001	0.002
Left CST MD	0.720	0.698	0.742	0.713	0.680	0.746	0.765	0.741	0.789	ns	<0.001	<0.0001
Right CST FA	0.473	0.458	0.488	0.496	0.473	0.518	0.432	0.416	0.448	ns	<0.0001	<0.0001
Right CST MD	0.746	0.725	0.767	0.723	0.691	0.756	0.794	0.771	0.817	ns	<0.0001	<0.0001

Data are reported as least squares (LS) means and 95% confidence limits (CL). Lesion and tissue volumes are expressed in cc, MD is expressed in mm²s⁻¹×10⁻³, and FA is a dimensionless index. Between-group comparison 𝑃 values were corrected with Tukey-Kramer and the following variables were taken as covariates: therapy (dichotomic variable: yes/no), age, and gender.
LV: total brain lesion volume; NBV: normalized brain volume; NCV: normalized cortical grey matter volume; NGMV: normalized grey matter volume; NWMV: normalized white matter volume; CST: corticospinal tract; MD: mean diffusivity; FA: fractional anisotropy; ns: not significant.
See the text for other abbreviations and statistical analysis details.