Last year's guidelines are probably biased

EDITOR—We read with interest last year's paper by Dent et al on the management of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease in general practice.1 Dent et al are closely connected to AstraZeneca, as is shown by the competing interests declared at the end of the article. The same company participated in the preparation of the manuscript. The article is based on the view of participants at a workshop arranged by AstraZeneca, which accordingly determined who should be invited. We suppose that the questions posted at the workshop had been made by AstraZeneca before the selected “experts” were asked to answer them by putting their finger on the button. The votes from such a highly selected panel are now, more or less, presented as a guideline for general practitioners in the treatment of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.

It is not surprising that a pharmaceutical company is trying to sell its products, and it is not surprising that doctors closely connected to pharmaceutical companies write such a manuscript. It is, however, remarkable that a reputable journal like the BMJ accepts such a manuscript for publication.

Utility and acceptability of Infai C13-urea breath test has been shown

EDITOR—Last year's clinical review by Dent et al on the management of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease in general practice provides another interesting perspective on this problem.1 Little reference has, however, been made to testing for …