Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title:  Predictive Modeling of Disease Burden in Adult -Onset Ulcerative Colitis Using Health 
Administrative Data  
 
Version: 0 Date: 28 Nov 2018 
 
Reviewer:  Stephan  Haas  
 
Reviewer’s report:  
 
Murthy and co -workers tested how health administrative data can discriminate UC disea se extent 
and severity at diagnosis.  
 
A large cohort of 587 newly diagnosed UC patients was studied. Different models were 
evaluated by two different statistical approaches and robustness was tested by bootstrap internal 
validation.  
 
The goal to use health administrative data for prediction of the UC course is rather novel and of 
great interest.  
 
Unfortunately, the statistical performance of the different models is rather disappointing.  
 
The authors discuss critically the limitations of the study and give so me outlook on potential 
applications of health administrative data for IBD research.  
 
Further studies are needed to assess strong predictive outcomes such us patients´ response to 
different treatment strategies and complications rates by health administrat e data.  
 
Some spelling errors need to be corrected (line 80, 81).  
 
Are the  methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an 
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further 
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I am able to assess the statistics  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Acceptable  
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following questions:  
 
1. Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an 
organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this 
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2. Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way gain or lose 
financially from the public ation of this manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
3. Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the content of the 
manuscript?  
 
4. Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that 
holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript?  
 
5. Do you have any other financial competing interests?  
 
6. Do you have any non -financial competing interests in relation to this paper?  
 
If you can answer no to all of the  above, write 'I declare that I have no competing interests' 
below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
'I declare that I have no competing interest  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal. I understand that my name will  be included 
on my report to the authors and, if the manuscript is accepted for publication, my named report 
including any attachments I upload will be posted on the website along with the authors' 
responses. I agree for my report to be made available unde r an Open Access Creative Commons 
CC-BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ). I understand that any comments 
which I do not wish to be included in my named report can be included as  confidential comments 
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal  
Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title:  Predictive Modeling of Disease Burden in Adult -Onset Ulcerative Colitis Using Health 
Administrative Data  
 
Version: 0 Date: 28 Nov 2018 
 
Reviewer:  Stephan  Haas  
 
Reviewer’s report:  
 
Murthy and co -workers tested how health administrative data can discriminate UC disea se extent 
and severity at diagnosis.  
 
A large cohort of 587 newly diagnosed UC patients was studied. Different models were 
evaluated by two different statistical approaches and robustness was tested by bootstrap internal 
validation.  
 
The goal to use health administrative data for prediction of the UC course is rather novel and of 
great interest.  
 
Unfortunately, the statistical performance of the different models is rather disappointing.  
 
The authors discuss critically the limitations of the study and give so me outlook on potential 
applications of health administrative data for IBD research.  
 
Further studies are needed to assess strong predictive outcomes such us patients´ response to 
different treatment strategies and complications rates by health administrat e data.  
 
Some spelling errors need to be corrected (line 80, 81).  
 
Are the  methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an 
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further 
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I am able to assess the statistics  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Acceptable  
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following questions:  
 
1. Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an 
organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this 
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2. Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way gain or lose 
financially from the public ation of this manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
3. Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the content of the 
manuscript?  
 
4. Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that 
holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript?  
 
5. Do you have any other financial competing interests?  
 
6. Do you have any non -financial competing interests in relation to this paper?  
 
If you can answer no to all of the  above, write 'I declare that I have no competing interests' 
below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
'I declare that I have no competing interest  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal. I understand that my name will  be included 
on my report to the authors and, if the manuscript is accepted for publication, my named report 
including any attachments I upload will be posted on the website along with the authors' 
responses. I agree for my report to be made available unde r an Open Access Creative Commons 
CC-BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ). I understand that any comments 
which I do not wish to be included in my named report can be included as  confidential comments 
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal  
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title:  Predictive Modeling of Disease Burden in Adult -Onset Ulcerative Colitis Using Health 
Administrative Data  
 
Version: 0 Date: 28 Nov 2018 
 
Reviewer:  Stephan  Haas  
 
Reviewer’s report:  
 
Murthy and co -workers tested how health administrative data can discriminate UC disea se extent 
and severity at diagnosis.  
 
A large cohort of 587 newly diagnosed UC patients was studied. Different models were 
evaluated by two different statistical approaches and robustness was tested by bootstrap internal 
validation.  
 
The goal to use health administrative data for prediction of the UC course is rather novel and of 
great interest.  
 
Unfortunately, the statistical performance of the different models is rather disappointing.  
 
The authors discuss critically the limitations of the study and give so me outlook on potential 
applications of health administrative data for IBD research.  
 
Further studies are needed to assess strong predictive outcomes such us patients´ response to 
different treatment strategies and complications rates by health administrat e data.  
 
Some spelling errors need to be corrected (line 80, 81).  
 
Are the  methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an 
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further 
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I am able to assess the statistics  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Acceptable  
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following questions:  
 
1. Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an 
organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this 
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2. Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way gain or lose 
financially from the public ation of this manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
3. Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the content of the 
manuscript?  
 
4. Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that 
holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript?  
 
5. Do you have any other financial competing interests?  
 
6. Do you have any non -financial competing interests in relation to this paper?  
 
If you can answer no to all of the  above, write 'I declare that I have no competing interests' 
below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
'I declare that I have no competing interest  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal. I understand that my name will  be included 
on my report to the authors and, if the manuscript is accepted for publication, my named report 
including any attachments I upload will be posted on the website along with the authors' 
responses. I agree for my report to be made available unde r an Open Access Creative Commons 
CC-BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ). I understand that any comments 
which I do not wish to be included in my named report can be included as  confidential comments 
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal  
assistant