Italian Multiple Sclerosis Database Network

The Multiple Sclerosis Database Network (MSDN) is the first Italian multiple sclerosis (MS) registry. The preliminary results on the MSDN cohort demonstrated that the risk of disability progression, in a sample of 2090 MS patients, was reduced by about four- to five-fold in patients exposed to IFN beta for more than 4 years compared with patients exposed for up to 2 years. More recent results showed, in a subset of 1170 relapsing-remitting MS patients, of whom 918 were treated with IFN beta and 252 were untreated, that IFN beta-treated patients had a differential reduction in EDSS score change of -0.055 for each year of follow-up in comparison with the untreated group. These results provide significant information on the effectiveness of IFN beta treatment on long-term disability progression in MS.