Multiple sclerosis databases: present and future.

can drive best practice and improvements in patient care based on real-life findings from large patient populations. MS registries can provide information relating to healthcare systems and the provision of treatment and services, as well as their associated impact on overall health and level of disability in the MS patient population. Such data can be used to compare the benefits of different types and levels of healthcare, both within and between regions and countries. For this purpose, the MS Barometer was created by the European MS Platform (EMSP). The Barometer was based on a questionnaire survey conducted in individual countries covering topics such as access to treatment, research agenda, employment, available medications, and more. The results indicated a huge disparity in the provision of MS services across different regions. Countries scoring well were Austria, Germany, Ireland and Sweden among others, while those scoring poorly included Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Bulgaria. As an example, the percentage of MS patients receiving disease-modifying therapy varied widely, from 80% in Luxembourg to just 7% in Poland. In an ideal world, healthcare providers in countries scoring poorly on the Barometer with respect