[The Multiple Sclerosis Registry of Szeged]

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a rare disease of the central nervous system considering the total population, the prevalence in Hungary is 83.9/100.000. The first MS registry was established in Denmark in the middle of the 1950's. This was followed by the establishment of several national, then international databases with the number of enrolled patients in the hundred-thousands. At the beginning, the primary goal of the registries were the epidemiological surveys, focusing on the number of patients, the prevalence, the incidence, the mortality and the co-morbidity. As of today, however, with the rapid advancement and development of new disease modifying therapies (DMT) with different effectiveness and adverse reactions, the therapeutic use of the registries became even more essential: the modern, up-to-date, well established registries become integral part of the DMTs' monitorization. The Multiple Sclerosis Registry of Szeged was first established as a "paper-based" database, then, in 2012, it was upgraded to an electronic, easily contactable and useable internet-based registry. As of today, it contains the socio-demographic and clinical data of more than 600 patients; we constantly add new patients as well as keep the registry up-to-date with the refreshment of old patients' data. Aside from the "classical" clinical data, it can be used for the recording and assessment of the MRI scans and the data on psychopathological and quality of life assessments, which are becoming more and more important in everyday MS management. The establishment of the internet-based registry incredibly helped both the monitorization of the effectiveness of DMTs, and the success of the new epidemiological and psychopathological surveys.