Our results underline the validity of the MPSS for the four diagnosis groups examined; however, pain diagnosis must be controlled in all studies using chronicity stage as an independent variable, e.g., therapy studies. For optimal results physicians must closely follow the test instructions of the MPSS.

The documented data differ from other population-based data collections. In contrast to common belief there are a considerable number of patients who find access to specialized pain therapy institutions at an early stage of their illness. The hitherto regular use of generic, syndrome-overlapping diagnosis and treatment tools should be reconsidered taking into account the differences found between the main pain diagnosis groups. Lastly, this analysis provides current data on the psychological state of chronic pain patients showing a high degree of psychological distress and underlying the need of psychotherapeutic interventions in the treatment of chronic pain patients.

According to the view of the patients, treatment in specialized pain centres is successful even in the highest stage of pain chronification. This notwithstanding, success of treatment must not be confounded with the efficacy of an intervention. It has to be noted that the results of the current study do not allow conclusions regarding efficacy of treatment.

Due to its ability of export into other databases and already enclosed routines QUAST permits an internal assurance of quality of process and outcome in pain management. It also can be an instrument of an external quality assurance. QUAST is at present the only computer system available in Germany, to fulfil the required prerequisites for adequate quality control.

s, 5th EFIC Congress, Invited Presentations EFIC and IASP have launched an effort to establish the right to receive therapy for pain as a basic human right. Moreover, chronic pain carries an enormous socio-economic burden both for those who suffer from it, and for society at large. Throughout the European countries, health care budgets are strained by the combined effects of progress in medical research (in most cases innovative treatment is expensive) and increasing demand by an ageing population. In this situation, various medical problems such as cancer, cardiovascular disorders, chronic pain, dementia, and many more have to compete for allocation of adequate funding for prevention, treatment and research. In this situation, adequate epidemiological data collection is of utmost importance. In this Topical Seminar, three eminent speakers will cover the epidemiology of the most frequent chronic pain conditions. They will address data on frequency of the respective condition in the population, impact on quality of life, and treatment outcome, but they will also cover economic aspects such as lost income and health care costs. Most of the time of this seminar will be reserved for discussion, which shall cover methodological aspects of data collection, adequate ways of presenting findings to the general public, and strategies to influence health care policies.