Letters to the Editor
1 Pediatric Gastrointestinal and Nutrition Unit Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114
Dr. Forsyth's letter and insightful comments are appreciated. It provides the impetus and forum to clarify some potentially confusing statements in our recent publication.
A statistical attrition bias is possible since only 26 complete dietary records were available for follow-up. The patients were drawn from a total population of 500 outpatients seen in our clinic over a 2
-year period. They were examined by various physicians and dieticians during that time. Although vigorous attempts were made to obtain initial and follow-up data on all of the patients with chronic nonspecific diarrhea, those data were not obtainable from all of the patients.




