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Virgilia Toccaceli,1 Michael Tenti,2 Maria Antonietta Stazi,1 Corrado Fagnani,1 Emanuela Medda,1 Lidia Gargiulo,3 Alessandra Burgio,3 Letizia Sampaolo,4 Maurizio Ferri,1 William Raffaeli2 1Centre for Behavioural Sciences and Mental Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Italian National Institute of Health), Rome, Italy; 2Fondazione ISAL, Institute for Research on Pain, Torre Pedrera, Italy; 3ISTAT, National Institute of Statistics, Rome, Italy; 4Centre for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Italian National Institute of Health), Rome, ItalyCorrespondence: Michael Tenti, Fondazione ISAL, Via San Salvador, 204, Rimini, 47922, Italy, Tel +390541725166, Fax +390541725164, Email michael.tenti@fondazioneisal.itBackground: Chronic pain (CP) prevalence estimates addressing a wide phenotype are still quite fragmented and may vary widely due to the lack of standardized tools of investigation. There is an urgent need to update general population CP estimates.Methods: For this purpose, the Brief Five-item Chronic Pain Questionnaire was developed through experts’ consultations for design and content validity assessment; literature analysis of measures used to investigate CP for general population surveys; understandability evaluation through a survey on a convenience sample of affected and non-affected individuals; reliability assessment by means of two double-wave online surveys carried out by the Italian Twin Registry; criterion and construct validity assessment through the third wave of the 2019 European Health Interview Survey (Ehis).Results: Key dimensions were defined to describe CP main aspects from a public health perspective. Literature analysis showed that validated questionnaires were rarely used to address important public health CP aspects. Understandability of the measure was good. Test-retest analyses showed adequate reliability of the measure: k values were at least “moderate” with highest values regarding CP “occurre