Within-family associations and disease progression in familial multiple sclerosis

Objective: To address the differences in disease progression between familial and sporadic multiple scleroris (MS) and the association within sib-pairs. Methods: 48 sibling pairs and 98 controls from a databank of 445 sporadic MS-patients, randomly pair-matched for age, gender, clinical course and disease duration were included. In 33 available sibling-pairs follow-up data were collected prospectively Outcome parameters included baseline expanded disability status scale (EDSS), age at onset, mono- or multifocal onset and disease progression. For analyses within-group distributions were described and compared, us…