Hypochondriacal complaints among Hong Kong children: a mental health hazard?

The incidence of hypochondriacal complaints among clinic attenders at a general outpatients clinic is in the region of 51/thousand (51 per 1,000). A series of 33 children were studied in detail. It was found that their age range from 1 1/2-14 with a mode of 8-10 years, females having a slight predominance (1.33:1). They usually came from lower social-economic backgrounds but a substantial portion also came from social class 2. Among his latter group, psychological complaints predominate. Pain remained the most frequent complaint. There was also a predominance of complaints confined to the respiratory tract, a tendency which could be explained on a cultural and public-health basis. It was also found that only very few of the children in the study had previous hypochondriacal traits, a fact which contrasted sharply to those of their parents in whom hypochondriacal traits predominate. Hypochondriacal children, when treated, had good prognostic outcomes. Two areas of special significance in future researches are: 1. The importance of parental influence on the health attitudes of children. 2. Whether hypochondriacal children contribute significantly towards adult jupochondriasis (Primary or Secondary).