Table 1 Demographic, clinical and investigational information of the study cohort, stratified by racial group.

From: A comparison of multiple sclerosis disease characteristics across three genetically diverse Asian racial groups in Singapore

 

Chinese (n = 90)

Malay (n = 32)

South Asian (n = 66)

Total (n = 188)

p-value

Age at onset in years, median (Q1, Q3)

28.0 (23.0, 36.0)

25.0 (22.5, 31.5)

27.0 (25.0, 33.0)

28.0 (24.0, 35.0)

0.673

Gender (%)

 Female

77 (85.6)

26 (81.3)

52 (78.8)

155 (82.4)

 

 Male

13 (14.4)

6 (18.8)

14 (21.2)

33 (17.6)

0.725

Smoking status at first visit (%)

 Smoker

10 (14.7)

6 (26.1)

8 (15.7)

24 (16.9)

 

 Non-smoker

58 (85.3)

17 (73.9)

43 (84.3)

118 (83.1)

0.641

Any other autoimmune conditions (%)

 Yes

6 (6.7)

1 (3.1)

9 (13.6)

16 (8.5)

 

 No

84 (93.3)

31 (96.9)

57 (86.4)

172 (91.5)

0.336

Initial MS type (%)

 RRMS

82 (91.1)

32 (100.0)

63 (95.5)

177 (94.1)

 

 PPMS

8 (8.9)

0 (0.0)

3 (4.5)

11 (5.9)

0.195

Phenotype of onset attack (%)a

 TM

34 (41.5)

11 (34.4)

35 (56.5)

80 (45.5)

 

 Infratentorial

21 (25.6)

11 (34.4)

7 (11.3)

39 (22.2)

 

 ON

18 (22.0)

5 (15.6)

12 (19.4)

35 (19.9)

 

 Supratentorial

2 (2.4)

0 (0.0)

1 (1.6)

3 (1.7)

 

 Multiple

7 (8.5)

5 (15.6)

7 (11.3)

19 (10.8)

0.230

Severity of first MS attack by EGS, median (Q1, Q3)a

3.0 (2.0, 3.0)*

3.0 (2.0, 3.0)+

2.0 (2.0, 3.0)*+

3.0 (2.0, 3.0)

0.006

Enhancing lesion on initial MRI (%)

 Yes

42 (63.6)

20 (87.0)

37 (77.1)

99 (82.8)

 

 No

24 (36.4)

3 (13.0)

10 (22.9)

37 (27.2)

0.057

Location of enhancing lesion on initial MRI (%)

 Brain

24 (36.4)

9 (39.1)

21 (44.7)

54 (39.7)

 

 Spine

6 (9.1)

9 (39.1)

8 (17.0)

23 (16.9)

 

 Both brain and spine

12 (18.2)

2 (8.7)

8 (17.0)

22 (16.2)

 

 No enhancing lesion

24 (36.4)

3 (13.0)

10 (21.3)

37 (27.2)

0.034Ψ

First MRI brain T2 lesion load (%)b

 High

19 (35.2)

9 (52.9)

13 (35.1)

41 (38.0)

 

 Intermediate

11 (20.4)

3 (17.6)

12 (32.4)

26 (24.1)

 

 Low

24 (44.4)

5 (29.4)

12 (32.4)

41 (38.0)

0.436

CSF-restricted OCB (%)

 Present

40 (69.0)

22 (88.0)

35 (81.4)

97 (77.0)

 

 Absent

18 (31.0)

3 (12.0)

8 (18.6)

29 (23.0)

0.139

  1. For variables ‘Enhancing lesion on initial MRI’, ‘Location of enhancing lesion on initial MRI’, ‘First MRI brain T2 lesion load’, and ‘CSF-restricted OCB’, not all patients in the study population was included due to missing data either due from the procedure not being performed or unavailability of records. Percentages indicated in these variables were based on the denominator of those with available data.
  2. CSF cerebrospinal fluid, EGS EDMUS grading scale, MRI magnetic resonance imaging, OCB oligoclonal bands, PPMS primary progressive multiple sclerosis, RRMS relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis, TM transverse myelitis.
  3. aWithin RRMS patients only (Chinese n = 82, Malays n = 32, South Asian n = 63) as most PPMS patients do not present with relapses.
  4. bThe number of lesions were manually counted using axial T2-weighted sequence and cross referenced with the neuroradiologist report. Low lesion load was defined as 1–5 lesions, intermediate as 6–10 lesions and high as > 10 lesions.
  5. *Pairwise comparison of Chinese vs. South Asian, Dunn’s post-hoc p = 0.010.
  6. +Pairwise comparison of Malays vs. South Asian, Dunn’s post-hoc p = 0.006.
  7. ΨPairwise comparison of Chinese vs. Malays, Bonferroni correction p = 0.019.
  8. Significant values are in italics.
Back to article page