Anxiety, Depression, and Expanded Disability Status Scale Independently Predict the Perception of Disability in Persons With Multiple Sclerosis: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common cause of disability in young adults due to several motor, sensory, and cognitive symptoms. However, little is still known about the impact of psychological, cognitive, and social-support variables on subjective disability. This study is aimed at exploring the role of clinical, psychological, cognitive, and social-support variables in predicting disability levels as perceived by persons with multiple sclerosis (pwMS).

Active and non-active secondary progressive multiple sclerosis patients exhibit similar disability progression: results of an Italian MS registry study (ASPERA).

'Active' and 'non-active' secondary progressive MS (SPMS) have distinct pathophysiological mechanisms and clinical characteristics, but there is still no consensus regarding the frequency of these MS forms in the real-world setting. We aimed to evaluate the frequency of 'active' and 'non-active' SPMS in a large cohort of Italian MS patients and the differences in terms of clinical and MRI characteristics and disease progression. This multicenter study collected data about MS patients who have transitioned to the SP form in the period between 1st January 2014 and 31st December 2019 and followed by the MS centers contributing to the Italian MS Registry.

Ocrelizumab in MS patients with persistence of disease activity after alemtuzumab: A multi-center Italian study.

Background: The reason why some multiple sclerosis (MS) patients show disease activity after alemtuzumab (ALM) is still unclear, but ocrelizumab (OCR) could represent an interesting sequential therapeutic approach.

Objectives: To investigate safety and efficacy of OCR in MS patients with disease activity after two ALM courses.

Methods: Observational retrospective multi-centers Italian cohort study.

Effects of fingolimod on focal and diffuse damage in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis - The "EVOLUTION" study.

Background And Objectives: In multiple sclerosis (MS), MRI markers can measure the potential neuroprotective effects of fingolimod beyond its anti-inflammatory activity. In this study we aimed to comprehensively explore, in the real-word setting, whether fingolimod not only reduces clinical/MRI inflammatory activity, but also influences the progression of irreversible focal and whole brain damage in relapsing-remitting [RR] MS patients.

Methods: The "EVOLUTION" study, a 24-month observational, prospective, single-arm, multicenter study, enrolled 261 RRMS patients who started fingolimod at 32 Italian MS centers and underwent biannual neurological assessments and annual MRI evaluations.