Characteristics of the UK Tissue Bank populations
| Control population (n=95) | Multiple sclerosis (n=582) | Multiple sclerosis pilot (n=30) | Parkinson’s disease (n=579) | Parkinson’s disease pilot (n=30) | ||
| Age (mean±SD) | 79.3±12.0 | 63.8±12.7 | 65.1±12.1 | 79.7±8.2 | 77.2±8.4 | |
| Female (%) | 41 (47.1) | 379 (70.4) | 21 (70) | 241 (41.6) | 6 (20) | |
| Disease length (mean±SD), missing | – | 30.4±12.2, 79 | 23.7±11.5, 0 | 12.5±6.2, 236 | 10.4±4.2, 0 | |
| Death trajectory (% excluding missing data) | Missing | 21 | 0 | 0 | 233 | 0 |
| Clear transition | 30 (40) | 59 (10.1) | 3 (10) | 24 (6.9) | ||
| Acute exacerbation | 5 (6.8) | 18 (3.1) | – | 8 (2.3) | – | |
| Sudden | 32 (43.2) | 76 (13.1) | – | 4 (1.2) | – | |
| Progressive dwindling | 7 (9.5) | 429 (73.7) | 27 (90) | 310 (89.6) | 100 (100) | |
| Place of death (% excluding missing data) | Missing | 8 | 47 | 0 | 236 | 0 |
| Home | 28 (32.2) | 100 (18.7) | 4 (13.3) | 40 (11.6) | 5 (16.7) | |
| Hospital | 37 (42.5) | 272 (50.8) | 16 (53.3) | 122 (35.3) | 11 (36.7) | |
| Care home | 16 (18.4) | 137 (25.6) | 7 (23.3) | 183 (52.9) | 14 (46.7) | |
| Hospice | 6 (6.9) | 24 (4.5) | 3 (10) | 1 (0.3) | – | |
| Psychiatric/convents/prisons | – | 2 (0.4) | – | – | – | |