Reviewer's report
Title:The occurrence of Urinary Tract Infection before development of Primary
Biliary Cirrhosis: a case control study.
Version: 2Date:25 July 2011
Reviewer: Pietro Invernizzi
Reviewer's report:
This paper by Varyani et al reports data on the casual relationship between
urinary tract infection (UTI) and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). It has been
consistently reported an association between UTI and PBC, but all previous data
were based on retrospective studies. The question of the role of UTI in PBC is of
relevance. Unfortunately the current study is not real prospective study. These
authors analysed a validated UK population-based database. As discussed by
the authors, this study have a number of bias, but it is far the strongest study
design among those on this issue. This study is not conclusive on this topic.
From a statistical point of view, since gender and age can well affect results, it is
better to have a similar proportion of female subjects also in the chronic liver
disease group (about 85% instead of the current 40% of female subjects) and of
similar age with the PBC patients (about 62 years instead of the current 54
years). By matching PBC and CLD patients, it is well possible that the specificity
of UTI and PBC will be lost. Indeed, the current findings do not clearly support
such specificity.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, and I have assessed the statistics in my report.
Reviewer's report
Title:The occurrence of Urinary Tract Infection before development of Primary
Biliary Cirrhosis: a case control study.
Version: 2Date:25 July 2011
Reviewer: Pietro Invernizzi
Reviewer's report:
This paper by Varyani et al reports data on the casual relationship between
urinary tract infection (UTI) and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). It has been
consistently reported an association between UTI and PBC, but all previous data
were based on retrospective studies. The question of the role of UTI in PBC is of
relevance. Unfortunately the current study is not real prospective study. These
authors analysed a validated UK population-based database. As discussed by
the authors, this study have a number of bias, but it is far the strongest study
design among those on this issue. This study is not conclusive on this topic.
From a statistical point of view, since gender and age can well affect results, it is
better to have a similar proportion of female subjects also in the chronic liver
disease group (about 85% instead of the current 40% of female subjects) and of
similar age with the PBC patients (about 62 years instead of the current 54
years). By matching PBC and CLD patients, it is well possible that the specificity
of UTI and PBC will be lost. Indeed, the current findings do not clearly support
such specificity.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, and I have assessed the statistics in my report.
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report
Title:The occurrence of Urinary Tract Infection before development of Primary
Biliary Cirrhosis: a case control study.
Version: 2Date:25 July 2011
Reviewer: Pietro Invernizzi
Reviewer's report:
This paper by Varyani et al reports data on the casual relationship between
urinary tract infection (UTI) and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). It has been
consistently reported an association between UTI and PBC, but all previous data
were based on retrospective studies. The question of the role of UTI in PBC is of
relevance. Unfortunately the current study is not real prospective study. These
authors analysed a validated UK population-based database. As discussed by
the authors, this study have a number of bias, but it is far the strongest study
design among those on this issue. This study is not conclusive on this topic.
From a statistical point of view, since gender and age can well affect results, it is
better to have a similar proportion of female subjects also in the chronic liver
disease group (about 85% instead of the current 40% of female subjects) and of
similar age with the PBC patients (about 62 years instead of the current 54
years). By matching PBC and CLD patients, it is well possible that the specificity
of UTI and PBC will be lost. Indeed, the current findings do not clearly support
such specificity.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, and I have assessed the statistics in my report.
assistant