First‐line therapies in late‐onset multiple sclerosis: An Italian registry study

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The diagnosis of late‐onset (age ≥50 years old) relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (LORRMS) has been increasingly described in clinical practice, whereas data focusing on the specific therapeutic management of LORRMS are scarce. Our objective was to compare the effectiveness of injectable and oral first‐line disease‐modifying therapies (DMTs) in a cohort of LORRMS patients with time to first relapse, time to confirmed disability progression (CDP), and time to discontinuation. METHODS: This is a multicenter, observational, retrospectively acquired cohort study on LORRMS‐naïve patients from the Italian MS Register who started either injectable or oral first‐line DMTs between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2017. LORRMS patients were divided into two groups, namely the injectable group (IG) and oral group (OG). Cox models adjusted with inverse probability‐weighted propensity score were built for the investigated outcomes. RESULTS: Of a cohort of 3989 patients, 302 were enrolled (203 in the IG and 99 in the OG). The two cohorts did not differ in baseline characteristics. Time to first relapse did not show any difference between the two groups (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.10; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.50–2.46, p = 0.797). Furthermore, no differences were found between the two groups with respect to the risk of CDP (HR: 1.04; 95% CI: 0.35–3.06, p = 0.939), nor for the risk of DMT discontinuation (HR: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.17–2.08, p = 0.425). CONCLUSIONS: Real‐world data from the Italian MS Register suggested that both injectables and oral first‐line DMTs similarly controlled the investigated outcomes in LORRMS.