Document is current

Article History

Received: 20 January 2019

Revised: 14 April 2019

Accepted: 23 April 2019

First Online: 8 May 2019

Compliance with ethical standards

:

: Prof. S. G. Meuth has received honoraria for lecturing, travel expenses for attending meetings and financial research support from Almirall, Amicus Therapeutics GmbH Deutschland, Bayer Health Care, Biogen, Celgene, Diamed, Genzyme, MedDay Pharmaceuticals, Merck Serono, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, ONO Pharma, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, Chugai Pharma, QuintilesIMS und Teva. Dr. J. Krämer received honoraria for lecturing from Biogen, Novartis, Mylan and Teva, and financial research support from Sanofi Genzyme. Prof. H. Wiendl has received honoraria for lecturing and travel expenses for attending meetings from Actelion, Alexion, Biogen, Cognomed, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Gemeinnützige Hertie-Stiftung, Lundbeck, Merck Serono, Novartis, Roche Pharma AG, Sanofi-Genzyme, TEVA, WebMD Global, for scientific advisory boards/steering committees from Biogen, Evgen, MedDay Pharmaceuticals, Merck Serono, Novartis, Roche Pharma AG, Sanofi-Genzyme, and compensation for serving as a consultant for Abbvie, Actelion, Biogen, Immunic AG, Novartis, Roche, RxMx, Sanofi-Genzyme, and research support from German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft (DFG), Else Kröner Fresenius Foundation, European Union, Fresenius Foundation, Hertie Foundation, NRW Ministry of Education and Research, Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Studies (IZKF) Muenster and RE Children’s Foundation, PML Consortium, Swiss MS Society, Biogen GmbH, GlaxoSmithKline GmbH, Roche Pharma AG, Sanofi-Genzyme. Dr. S. Kovac has received honoraria for lecturing and advising from Sanofi Genzyme and Esai. Dr. L. Langenbruch has received honoraria for lecturing Eisai. S. Güler and S. Geßner have no competing interests. Dr. N. Melzer has received honoraria for lecturing and travel expenses for attending meetings from Biogen Idec, GlaxoSmith Kline, Teva, Novartis Pharma, Bayer Healthcare, Genzyme, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Fresenius Medical Care, and Diamed and has received financial research support from Euroimmun, Fresenius Medical Care, Diamed, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, and Novartis Pharma. Prof. C. E. Elger has received honoraria from UCB, Desitin, BIAL, and Eisai, and grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF). Dr. G. Möddel has received honoraria for lecturing and travel expenses from UCB Pharma, Eisai, Desitin, and Electrical Geodesics Inc. (EGI). Prof. T. Budde has received grants from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Biogen and Bayer Healthcare.

: Informed consent was not obtained because of the retrospective nature of the study.