Prognostic Indicators in Pediatric Clinically Isolated Syndrome

Pietro Iaffaldano, Marta Simone, Giuseppe Lucisano, Angelo Ghezzi, Gabriella Coniglio, Vincenzo Brescia Morra, Giuseppe Salemi, Francesco Patti, Alessandra Lugaresi, Guillermo Izquierdo, Roberto Bergamaschi, Jose Antonio Cabrera-Gomez, Carlo Pozzilli, Enrico Millefiorini, Raed Alroughani, Cavit Boz, Eugenio Pucci, Giovanni Bosco Zimatore, Patrizia Sola, Giacomo LusDavide Maimone, Carlo Avolio, Eleonora Cocco, Seyed Aidin Sajedi, Gianfranco Costantino, Pierre Duquette, Vahid Shaygannejad, Thor Petersen, Ricardo Fernandez Bolanos, Damiano Paolicelli, Carla Tortorella, Tim Spelman, Lucia Margari, Maria Pia Amato, Giancarlo Comi, Helmut Butzkueven, Italian iMedWeb Registry & MSBase, Raymond Hupperts, Maria Trojano*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Objective: To assess prognostic factors for a second clinical attack and a first disability-worsening event in pediatric clinically isolated syndrome (pCIS) suggestive of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.

Methods: A cohort of 770 pCIS patients was followed up for at least 10 years. Cox proportional hazard models and Recursive Partitioning and Amalgamation (RECPAM) tree-regression were used to analyze data.

Results: In pCIS, female sex and a multifocal onset were risk factors for a second clinical attack (hazard ratio [HR], 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.28, 1.06-1.55; 1.42, 1.10-1.84, respectively), whereas disease-modifying drug (DMD) exposure reduced this risk (HR, 95% CI = 0.75, 0.60-0.95). After pediatric onset MS (POMS) diagnosis, age at onset younger than 15 years and DMD exposure decreased the risk of a first Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS)-worsening event (HR, 95% CI = 0.59, 0.42-0.83; 0.75, 0.71-0.80, respectively), whereas the occurrence of relapse increased this risk (HR, 95% CI = 5.08, 3.46-7.46). An exploratory RECPAM analysis highlighted a significantly higher incidence of a first EDSS-worsening event in patients with multifocal or isolated spinal cord or optic neuritis involvement at onset in comparison to those with an isolated supratentorial or brainstem syndrome. A Cox regression model including RECPAM classes confirmed DMD exposure as the most protective factor against EDSS-worsening events and relapses as the most important risk factor for attaining EDSS worsening.

Interpretation: This work represents a step forward in identifying predictors of unfavorable course in pCIS and POMS and supports a protective effect of early DMD treatment in preventing MS development and disability accumulation in this population.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)729-739
Number of pages11
JournalAnnals of Neurology
Volume81
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2017

Keywords

  • ONSET MULTIPLE-SCLEROSIS
  • NATURAL-HISTORY
  • FOLLOW-UP
  • DISABILITY PROGRESSION
  • PARACLINICAL FEATURES
  • TRANSVERSE MYELITIS
  • INTERFERON BETA-1B
  • OPTIC NEURITIS
  • CHILDREN
  • CHILDHOOD

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