ArticleJournal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry2026
Brain atrophy rates vary with age in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.
Article in Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Evaluating the neurofilament light chain-derived gap between biological and chronological age in multiple sclerosis and controls.Journal of neurology · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBrain atrophy is increasingly used as an outcome measure in clinical trials in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), but little is known about how chronological age interacts with MS-specific effects. For instance, while annual brain atrophy rates typically increase with age in healthy individuals, MS patients tend to exhibit decreasing atrophy rates over time.
methodsWe investigated the relationship between age and brain volume in a large dataset of 4241 trial participants with RRMS. We used pooled individual-participant data from phase 3 clinical trials with 96 weeks follow-up, which included both active treatment and placebo/comparator arms. Participants were categorised into seven groups based on chronological age (18-24 years, 25-30 years, 31-35 years, 36-40 years, 41-45 years, 46-50 years, 51-56 years). We performed multilevel linear mixed-effects regression analyses to examine differences between age groups in normalised whole brain volume (NWBV), thalamus grey matter volume (NThGMV), grey matter volume (NGMV) and white matter volume at baseline and their changes over follow-up. We also studied how disease duration influenced these relationships using similar models.
resultsOlder participants showed significantly lower NWBV, NGMV and NThGMV at baseline than younger participants. Most importantly, older participants exhibited lower rates of atrophy during follow-up, particularly in the thalamus. This association was consistent across all disease duration subgroups.
conclusionsOlder participants had more severe atrophy when enrolled into trials, but slower (thalamic) atrophy rates, independent of disease duration over time. Together, these findings emphasise that age should be taken into account when designing clinical trials that use brain atrophy as an outcome measure.
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