Treatment with disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) should be initiated within 6 months of the onset of MS in order to minimize the long-term accumulation of disability, according to an analysis based on real-world data.
At ECTRIMS, Dr Pietro Iaffaldano from the University of Bari Aldo Moro, in Bari, Italy, presented details of the study. The aim was to evaluate the impact of the time interval from disease onset to the first administration of a DMT on long-term disability accumulation.
A cohort of 11,934 RRMS patients was identified using the Big Multiple Sclerosis Data Network – a collection of real-world data obtained from registries in Denmark, France, Italy, and Sweden, and from the international MSBase database.