Definition of recurrent abdominal pain was not applied

EDITOR—Large longitudinal studies of children with recurrent abdominal pain, such as the one Hotopf et al conducted, are needed. Current knowledge is limited, and studies on the long term follow up of patients with recurrent abdominal pain should fill the gaps. Hotopf et al have addressed this important subject by trying to answer two questions, as the title of their paper indicates.1 The prevalence of recurrent abdominal pain in their cohort (2%) was lower than that reported in cross sectional studies (8-12%). 2 3 This suggests problems with the collection and reliability of the data.

Hotopf et al's first question was, “Why do children have chronic abdominal pain?” Their study was not, however, designed to answer this question. They did not have enough information and did …