Fig. 2: Patients in the MSwRP group have similar EDSS scores at death compared to patients in the MSwSP group but display more severe histopathological characteristics.
a, Stratification of the patient cohort. b,c, Individuals in the MSwRP group reached equivalents of clinical milestones at an earlier age (b) and after a shorter disease duration (c) compared to individuals in the MSwSP group. In the violin plots, P values were determined using Welch’s analysis of variance (ANOVA), Bonferroni-corrected for multiple testing. d, A higher proportion of individuals in the MSwRP group reached an EDSS of 8 compared to individuals in the MSwSP group; P values were determined using a Fisher’s exact test. e, Individuals in the MSwRP group reached significantly higher scores using ARMSS; the two-tailed P value was determined using a Mann–Whitney U-test. f–h, There was no difference between the MSwSP and MSwRP groups regarding the year of autopsy (f), the sex ratio (g) and the proportion of patients with relapses (h). f, Two-tailed P values were determined using a Mann–Whitney U-test. g,h, P values were determined using a Fisher’s exact test. i, A higher proportion of patients with rapid disease progression received immunotherapy; P values were determined using a Fisher’s exact test. j–v, The MSwRP group had a higher number of lesions (j), a higher proportion of demyelinated brain stem area (k), a higher cervical lesion load (l), no increase in thoracic lesion load (m), a higher lumbar lesion load (n), no increase in sacral lesion load (o), a higher proportion of active (p,s) and mixed (q,s) lesions, a lower proportion of inactive lesions (r,s), a higher proportion of lesions with limited remyelination (t), a lower proportion of lesions with marked remyelination (u) and a higher cortical lesion rate (v). In the violin plots, two-tailed P values were determined using a Mann–Whitney U-test. w, Individuals in the MSwRP group had a significantly higher proportion of BRLs; the P value was determined using a Fisher’s exact test. x, BRLs consisted of 8–68% of total lesions in the MSwRP group. *P ≤ 0.05; **P ≤ 0.01; ***P ≤ 0.001; ****P < 0.0001; NS, not significant.
