Disability
All patients included in the BENEFIT 11 study can be considered to have started treatment with BETAFERON relatively early in the course of the disease [1]. (Patients originally allocated to placebo started therapy on average (SD) 1.5 (0.7) years after their first clinical event suggestive of MS [1].)
At 11 years, there was no difference in disability between groups. Patients overall had relatively mild disability, with 69.8% of all patients being fully ambulatory with minor or no signs of disability (EDSS < 3) [1].1
Median EDSS increased from 1.5 at baseline to 2.0 at year 11 [1].
Furthermore, patients had a low risk of conversion to SPMS within 11 years: the Kaplan-Meier estimate of risk of secondary progressive MS (SPMS) was 5.9% overall [1].
Disability status of the patients included in the BENEFIT 11 study. Overall, the early BETAFERON treated patients experience relatively mild disability 11 years after disease onset [1,2]
Return to overview of BENEFIT long-term study outcomes
EDSS: Expanded Disability Status Scale
SD: standard deviation
References
- Kappos L et al. Neurology 2016; 87(10): 978-87. Return to content
- Kappos L et al. Joint Meeting of the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis and the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis 2014, LBP17. Return to content
