Refining the Criteria for Diagnosing Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis

The diagnosis of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) is challenging and often made in retrospect. Investigators used the MSBase dataset to develop an objective measure that reflected long-term disease worsening. MSBase includes clinical data from more than 34,154 patients and 113 MS centers in 34 countries. SPMS definitions were based on the following criteria: amount of Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) worsening, minimum EDSS at progression, minimum pyramidal Functional System (FS) score at progression, time to confirmed progression, confirmation within the same FS that triggered the progression, relapse activity prior to progression event, and relapse activity after.

Of 17,356 patients with sufficient follow-up and compl…