Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Primary Care

Relation of childhood gastrointestinal disorders to autism: nested case-control study using data from the UK General Practice Research Database

BMJ 2002; 325 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.325.7361.419 (Published 24 August 2002) Cite this as: BMJ 2002;325:419

Rapid Response:

Other possible indicators of GI disease in young children.

As a partner in a practice which contributes to the General Practice
Research Database, I wondered if Dr Black and her colleagues had reviewed
the therapy records for the subjects and the controls. Almost all acute
prescriptions entered by the contributing practices are matched with an
indication in the history file. However there may be some entries for Soya
based milks or oral rehydration fluid sachets that would indicate a
gastrointestinal problem without a corresponding history entry. This would
be more likely if a third party such as a health visitor requested the
prescription. In this age group, this may not be an infrequent occurrence.

Competing interests: No competing interests

24 August 2002
Peter S. Wiggins
G.P. Principal
Glasgow G46 6NB
Castlemilk Health Centre