Editorial. The article by Al-Jilaihawi and colleagues1 is an important reminder of the scale of child sexual abuse (CSA), both acute and non-acute. As paediatricians, our understanding and clinical management of ‘historic’ child sexual abuse leave much to be desired. The authors identified clinical characteristics of children and young people presenting with a suspicion or allegation of historic CSA, which they define as ‘within 7 days of the last episode of sexual assault in pubertal girls, or within 3 days for prepubertal girls and boys of all ages’. This definition appears to be based on the timing of forensic samples after the last sexual act.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.