The symptom iceberg

David Hannay

doi:10.3399/bjgp11X561339

Intended for Healthcare Professionals

The paper by McAteer et al in the January edition of the BJGP1 provides data on symptom prevalence from a postal survey with a low response rate and including only those of working age. However, the title is misleading because there was no information about whether the symptoms were below the waterline of medical consultation, as described by the editorial.

The symptom iceberg was identified by Last2 and operationally defined by Hannay,3 as the prevalence of significant symptoms in the community that were not referred for professional advice. This latter study included all age groups and was based on personal interviews with a high response rate from those visited.

REFERENCES

↵
1. McAteer A,
2. Elliot AM,
3. Hannaford PC
(2011) Ascertaining the size of the symptom iceberg in a UK-wide community based survey. Br J Gen Pract 61(582):12–17.
OpenUrl
↵
1. Last JM
(1963) The iceberg ‘completing the clinical picture’ in general practice. Lancet 282(7297):28–31.
OpenUrl CrossRef
↵
1. Hannay DR
(1979) The symptom iceberg (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London).