This month Hannaford's group revisits the symptom iceberg, that mass of undeclared symptoms experienced in the community that lies below the waterline of medical consultation (page 12). They studied 2-week symptom recall in 2474 adults under 60, half of whom had experienced one or more of a list of 25 symptoms offered to them, and found that individuals reported a mean of 3.66 different symptoms. There were predictable relationships between the number of symptoms experienced and a range of demographic parameters, with household income emerging as a notably strong associated factor; feeling tired, headaches, joint pain, and back pain were all reported by over 25% of responders. Almost 2% reported unintended weight loss, and 2.5% have seen blood in their stools. Most of these symptoms will never have become the subject of a …