Baseline demographic, VEP, OCT and conventional MRI metrics
| Variable | Patients with MS | Healthy controls |
| Mean age in years (SD) | 36.8 (7.1) | 36.0 (9.4) |
| Age range (years) | 25.0–54.2 | 22.2–55.4 |
| Male:female | 3:7 | 2:3 |
| Disease phenotype* | RMS (100%) | |
| Mean disease duration from diagnosis (SD) (years) | 5.3 (4.6) | |
| Mean disease duration from symptom onset (SD) (years) | 7.1 (4.8) | |
| Clinical relapses (SD), median (range) | ||
| Previous 12 months | 1.2 (1.2), 1 (0–5) | |
| Previous 24 months | 2.0 (2.0), 2 (0–8) | |
| Total previous relapses | 4.8 (2.8), 4 (1–10) | |
| Previous optic neuritis (ON) (%) | ||
| Yes | 12/30 (40) | |
| No | 17/30 (57) | |
| Unknown | 1/30 (3) | |
| Mean EDSS (SD) | 2.8 (1.4) | |
| EDSS range | 0.0–6.0 | |
| Mean Mars letter contrast sensitivity score | 1.63 | 1.76 |
| Mean mfVEP latency (SD) (ms) | 161.72 (14.09) | 149.33 (8.44) |
| Mean mfVEP latency in ON eyes (SD) (ms) | 168.54 (17.15) | |
| Mean mfVEP latency in non-ON eyes (SD) (ms) | 159.83 (14.141) | |
| Mean global RNFL thickness (SD) (µm) | 84.19 (9.18) | 91.77 (7.78) |
| Mean RNFL thickness in ON eyes (SD) (µm) | 78.23 (11.17) | |
| Mean RNFL thickness in non-ON eyes (SD) (µm) | 85.98 (8.82) | |
| Mean normalised thalamic volume total (SD) (mL) | 18.67 (2.33) | 20.85 (1.25) |
| Mean normalised brain volume (SD) (mL) | 1494.74 (88.00) | 1543.58 (66.23) |
| Normalised brain volume range (mL) | 1251.95–1653.18 | 1435.89–1696.58 |
| Mean T2 lesion number† (SD) | 44.3 (31.7) | |
| Mean T2 lesion volume† (SD) (mL) | 11.08 (8.81) | |
| Mean gad lesion number (SD), range | 5.7 (16.3), 0–83 | |
| Mean gad lesion volume (SD) (mL) | 0.44 (1.29) | |
| Mean OR T2 chronic lesion volume (SD) (mL) | R: 0.61 (0.52) L: 0.66 (0.51) |
*McDonald 2010 criteria.
†Excludes lesions <3 mm3.
EDSS, Expanded Disability Status Scale; gad, gadolinium; mfVEP, multifocal VEP; MS, multiple sclerosis; OCT, optical coherence tomography; OR, optic radiation; RMS, relapsing MS; RNFL, retinal nerve fibre layer; VEP, visual evoked potential.