In reply
We appreciate the opportunity to respond to Coyle's thoughtful comments. As we noted in our article on the results of the ONTT, the beneficial effect of the regimen of intravenous followed by oral corticosteroids in delaying the development of clinically definite MS was remarkably consistent across strata of the different risk factors for MS, including gender. The type of comparison suggested by Coyle was performed with a stratified analysis as well as by inclusion of an interaction term between gender and treatment in a proportional hazards model; these analyses did not indicate a differential treatment effect by gender. Furthermore, our 2-year follow-up has not supported the finding of the previous study,1 referenced by Coyle, that indicated that the 15-year risk of MS is greater in women with optic neuritis than in men with optic neuritis. In our cohort, MS developed within 2 years in 40 (13.3%) of