Background: The construct of health anxiety or hypochondriasis is sparsely examined in children. However, it is likely that precursors to the disorder are present during childhood. The Childhood Illness Attitude Scales (CIAS) was recently developed. It is based on the Illness Attitude Scales, which is commonly used for evaluating fears, beliefs and attitudes associated with hypochondriasis and abnormal illness behaviours in adults. Preliminary validation has suggested that the CIAS is a useful measure of health anxiety in school-age children. Objective: To explore the distribution of health anxiety symptoms in a population-based sample of 11–12year-old Danish children. Methods: The CIAS was administered as part of a larger battery of questionnaires in the 11–12year follow-up of the Copenhagen Child Cohort, CC2000. Results: Data was obtained on 1883 children. Preliminary analyses showed an average CIAS total score of 51.93 (SD=7.16) where scores ranged from 33 to 82 out of a possible range of 33–99 (additional item descriptive statistics will be presented). The distribution of scores resembled a normal curve. A high CIAS score (i.e. >90% percentile) was significantly associated with parental-reported health anxiety symptoms at child age 5–7years (p=0.018). Conclusions: Despite the preliminary nature of the data, the findings confirm initial observations that significant health anxiety occurs in childhood and confirm continuity of health anxiety symptoms from early childhood. Further description of characteristics and dimensions of childhood health anxiety could support the development of diagnostic criteria that are appropriate for children and aid in early identification of this disorder.