This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.
Abstract
Objective: To investigate utility of a Multiple Sclerosis Severity Scale (MSSS)–based classification system for comparing African American (AA) and white American (WA) multiple sclerosis (MS) subpopulations in the New York State Multiple Sclerosis Consortium (NYSMSC) database. MSSS is a frequency-rank algorithm relating MS disability to disease duration in a large, untreated reference population.
Design/Methods: Distributions of patients in 6 MSSS-based severity grades were calculated for AA and WA registrants.
Results: There were 419 AA and 5,809 WA patients in the NYSMSC, who had EDSS recorded during years 1–30 since symptom onset. Median EDSS was not different in AA and WA (3.5 vs 3.0, p = 0.60), whereas median MSSS in AA was higher than in WA (6.0 vs 4.8, p = 0.001). AA patients were overrepresented in the 2 most severe grades (41.5% vs 29.3% for WA) and underrepresented in the 2 lowest grades (23.4% vs 35.4%; p < 0.001). In multivariable analysis (ordered logistic and median regression), MSSS for AA remained significantly higher than in WA after adjusting for age, gender, disease duration, disease type distribution, and treatment with disease-modifying therapies.
Conclusions: The 6-tiered MSSS grading system is a powerful tool for comparing rate of disease progression in subpopulations of interest. MSSS-based analysis demonstrates that African ancestry is a risk factor for a more rapidly disabling disease course.
Footnotes
-
Study funding: Supported by an independent medical research grant from EMD Serono/Pfizer Inc.
Disclosure: Author disclosures are provided at the end of the article.
Received November 24, 2009. Accepted in final form March 24, 2010.
AAN Members
We have changed the login procedure to improve access between AAN.com and the Neurology journals. If you are experiencing issues, please log out of AAN.com and clear history and cookies. (For instructions by browser, please click the instruction pages below). After clearing, choose preferred Journal and select login for AAN Members. You will be redirected to a login page where you can log in with your AAN ID number and password. When you are returned to the Journal, your name should appear at the top right of the page.
AAN Non-Member Subscribers
Purchase access
Letters: Rapid online correspondence
REQUIREMENTS
If you are uploading a letter concerning an article:
You must have updated your disclosures within six months: http://submit.neurology.org
Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment.
If you are responding to a comment that was written about an article you originally authored:
You (and co-authors) do not need to fill out forms or check disclosures as author forms are still valid
and apply to letter.
Submission specifications:
- Submissions must be < 200 words with < 5 references. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
- Submissions should not have more than 5 authors. (Exception: original author replies can include all original authors of the article)
- Submit only on articles published within 6 months of issue date.
- Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
- Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.
You May Also be Interested in
Rituximab Therapy in the Treatment of Juvenile Myasthenia Gravis: The French Experience
Dr. Henry J. Kaminski and Dr. Sarah Wright