Higher longitudinal brain white matter atrophy rate in aquaporin-4 IgG-positive NMOSD compared with healthy controls

We aimed to compare longitudinal brain atrophy in patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) with healthy controls (HCs). The atrophy rate in patients with anti-aquaporin-4 antibody-positive NMOSD (AQP4 + NMOSD) was compared with age-sex-matched HCs recruited from the Japanese Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative study and another study performed at Chiba University. Twenty-nine patients with AQP4 + NMOSD and 29 HCs were enrolled in the study. The time between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans was longer in the AQP4 + NMOSD group compared with the HCs (median; 3.2 vs. 2.9 years, P = 0.009). The annualized normalized white matter volume (NWV) atrophy rate was higher in the AQP4 + NMOSD group compared with the HCs (median; 0.37 vs. − 0.14, P = 0.018). The maximum spinal cord lesion length negatively correlated with NWV at baseline MRI in patients with AQP4 + NMOSD (Spearman’s rho = − 0.41, P = 0.027). The annualized NWV atrophy rate negatively correlated with the time between initiation of persistent prednisolone usage and baseline MRI in patients with AQP4 + NMOSD (Spearman’s rho = − 0.43, P = 0.019). Patients with AQP4 + NMOSD had a greater annualized NWV atrophy rate than HCs. Suppressing disease activity may prevent brain atrophy in patients with AQP4 + NMOSD.