title: Modelling the distribution of cortical lesions in multiple sclerosis.
abstract: Recent studies have shown the relevance of the cerebral grey matter involvement in multiple sclerosis (MS). Cortical lesions (CLs), detected by specific MRI sequences, are likely to become a new research outcome in MS studies. The aim of this study was to infer the optimal statistical model describing the distribution of CLs in patients with relapsing-remitting (RR)MS. The negative binomial model gave the best fit to the observed distribution of CLs in a group of 44 RRMS patients with one MRI scan of the brain. This observation has important implications for the statistical analysis of CLs in MS studies.
authors.affiliation: Biostatistics Unit, Department of Health Sciences, University of Genoa, Italy. mariapia.sormani@unige.it
authors.forename: MariaPia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sormani
authors.forename: Maria L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Stromillo
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Battaglini
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Signori
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: De Stefano
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016010:Binomial Distribution; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D008959:Models, Neurological; D020529:Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult