Evaluation of pretreatment and on-treatment ARRs for the main treatment modalities
| Treatment modality | Number of patients on treatment for >6 months | Disease duration (months) at time of commencement of therapy median (range) | Duration of therapy (months) median (range) | Pretreatment ARR* excluding first episode median (range) | ARR* on treatment median (range) | Concurrent treatment | Cumulative cohort ARR on-treatment for all patients with a particular treatment modality (episodes/months) | Change from pretreatment to ARR on treatment (%) excluding first episode median (range) | Wilcoxon P value† | Post-treatment ARRa median (range)‡ | Failure rate (% of patients) and 95% CIs |
| Maintenance oral prednisone | 20 | 10 (1–78) | 10 (6–53) | 2 (0.5–6) | 0 (0–1.57) | MFM (n=10), IVIg (n=4), AZT (n=3), RTX (n=2), PLEX (n=1), MTX (n=1), cyclo (n=1), β-IFN (n=1) | 9/303=ARR of 0.36 | 100 (−87.5 to 100) | 0.0004 | 0 (0–0.6) | 1/20 (5%) (1% to 24%) |
| MMF | 16 | 8 (1–76) | 15 (6–37) | 1.83 (0.47–6.00) | 0.16 (0–4.00) | Steroids (n=16), RTX (n=4), β-IFN (n=1) | 10/261=ARR of 0.46 | 83 (−700 to 100) | 0.074 | 0 (0–0.48) | 7/16 (44%) (23% to 67%) |
| IVIg | 7 | 12 (0–60) | 16 (8–189) | 2 (0.8–2) | 0 (0–0.75) | Steroids (n=6, RTX n=1, β-IFN n=1) | 6/326=ARR of 0.22 | 100 (100 to 100) | 0.250 | 0 (0–0) | 3/7 (43%) (16% to 75%) |
| Rituximab | 6 | 15 (3–54) | 12.5 (6–24) | 1.65 (0.67–2) | 0 (0–1.33) | Steroids (n=6), monthly IVIg (n=1), monthly PLEX (n=1), MFM (n=1), β-IFN (n=1), RTX (n=1) | 2/81=ARR of 0.30 | 100 (34 to 100) | 0.125 | 0 (0–1.71) | 1/6 (17%) (3% to 56%) |
| Switched treatment | 7 | 27 (7–60) | 8 (6–33) | 1.42 (0.8–2.13) | 0 (0–1.2) | Steroids (n=6), RTX (n=1) | 2/81=ARR of 0.30 | 100 (44 to 100) | 0.031 | 0 (0–2) | 1/7 (14%) (3% to 51%) |
*All ARRs only calculated if time period included with a particular treatment modality was >6 months.
†The Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to identify the presence of difference between the pretreatment and on-treatment ARR, but does not represent the size of this change.
‡Post-treatment ARR calculated only in patients in whom modality of treatment in question has been ceased.
ARR, annualised relapse rates; AZT, azathioprine, IFN, interferon; IVIg, intravenous immunoglobulin; MMF, mycophenolate mofetil; PLEX, plasma exchange; RTX, rituximab.