summary: In this retrospective study, the authors evaluated after eight years the level of disability of patients with relapsing-remitting MS who had been previously included in a two-year clinical trial with intramuscular interferon beta-1a or placebo, to determine the most relevant predictive factors of long-term clinical disability. They found that a sustained clinical deterioration during the clinical trial (as measured by an increase of at least one point or more on the disability status scale compared with the clinical picture at study entry) was the strongest significant predictor of clinical disability eight years afterwards.

authors: Richard A. Rudick, MD; Jar-Chi Lee, MS; Gary R. Cutter, PhD; Deborah M. Miller, PhD; Dennis Bourdette, MD; Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, MD; Robert Hyde, PhD; Hao Zhang, PhD; Xiaojun You, PhD

source: Arch Neurol. Published online July 12, 2010. doi:10.1001/archneurol.2010.150

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