Baseline characteristics of the patients.

Abbreviations: AZA, azathioprine; EDSS, Expanded Disability Status Scale; IFN, interferon; SD, standard deviation.1P-values for AZA vs. IFN comparison were obtained through: χ2 test with one or two degrees of freedom for sex, number of patients with previous histories of AZA/IFN treatment, number of patients with relapses with concomitant disease and with Gd+ lesions; t-test for age; Mann-Whitney test for duration of disease, number of relapses, EDSS score, number of Gd+ lesions and T2 lesion load.2Protocol violations.3Scores on the EDSS range from 0 to 10, with higher scores indicating greater degree of disability.4The sum does not add up to the total because of some missing values.Baseline characteristics of the patients.