Reviewer's report
Title:Prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease in two districts of Sri Lanka: a
hospital based survey
Version: 1Date:22 September 2009
Reviewer: Ole Høie
Reviewer's report:
The article describes the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of
inflammatory bowel disease in two well-defined districts in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The authors find a low prevalence compared to western populations but similar to
some other Asian countries. The study is hospital-based. This problem has been
properly discussed in the paper which is well written. The table and figures are
informative and easy to understand. New epidemiologic data from this region of
the world is of substantial interest. Some points have to be commented upon.
Major
1. The main end-point of the study is the prevalence of the diseases. Additionally,
to calculate the incidence, it would be of interest to know how many of the 295
cases were diagnosed as new cases during the one year study inclusion period.
2. How was the disease activity divided into mild, moderate and severe? Which
scoring system did you use? Did you include endoscsopy and/or laboratory
tests?
3. Was the assessment of disease activity performed at the time of inclusion in
the study? If so, I suggest you calculate the median duration of the disease from
the time of diagnosis to the time of inclusion. This is important because disease
activity may have declined during the course.
Minor
4. How many patients did not have a full colonoscopy at the initial assessment?
Radiology may underestimate disease extent compared with endoscopy.
5. The type of hospital mentioned in the text seems somewhat confusing. District
Hospitals, Peripheral Units, Teaching hospitals and Base Hospitals are
mentioned. I would suggest you could simplify this paragraph according to Figure
1 which I find very informative (14 non-specialist hospitals refer all their
suspected IBD cases to one of the ten specialist hospitals for further diagnosis,
treatment and follow-up)
Discretionary
6. Reference 8 and 9 : The year of publication should be inserted after the name
of the journal (8) or is missing (9)
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
Reviewer's report
Title:Prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease in two districts of Sri Lanka: a
hospital based survey
Version: 1Date:22 September 2009
Reviewer: Ole Høie
Reviewer's report:
The article describes the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of
inflammatory bowel disease in two well-defined districts in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The authors find a low prevalence compared to western populations but similar to
some other Asian countries. The study is hospital-based. This problem has been
properly discussed in the paper which is well written. The table and figures are
informative and easy to understand. New epidemiologic data from this region of
the world is of substantial interest. Some points have to be commented upon.
Major
1. The main end-point of the study is the prevalence of the diseases. Additionally,
to calculate the incidence, it would be of interest to know how many of the 295
cases were diagnosed as new cases during the one year study inclusion period.
2. How was the disease activity divided into mild, moderate and severe? Which
scoring system did you use? Did you include endoscsopy and/or laboratory
tests?
3. Was the assessment of disease activity performed at the time of inclusion in
the study? If so, I suggest you calculate the median duration of the disease from
the time of diagnosis to the time of inclusion. This is important because disease
activity may have declined during the course.
Minor
4. How many patients did not have a full colonoscopy at the initial assessment?
Radiology may underestimate disease extent compared with endoscopy.
5. The type of hospital mentioned in the text seems somewhat confusing. District
Hospitals, Peripheral Units, Teaching hospitals and Base Hospitals are
mentioned. I would suggest you could simplify this paragraph according to Figure
1 which I find very informative (14 non-specialist hospitals refer all their
suspected IBD cases to one of the ten specialist hospitals for further diagnosis,
treatment and follow-up)
Discretionary
6. Reference 8 and 9 : The year of publication should be inserted after the name
of the journal (8) or is missing (9)
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report
Title:Prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease in two districts of Sri Lanka: a
hospital based survey
Version: 1Date:22 September 2009
Reviewer: Ole Høie
Reviewer's report:
The article describes the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of
inflammatory bowel disease in two well-defined districts in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The authors find a low prevalence compared to western populations but similar to
some other Asian countries. The study is hospital-based. This problem has been
properly discussed in the paper which is well written. The table and figures are
informative and easy to understand. New epidemiologic data from this region of
the world is of substantial interest. Some points have to be commented upon.
Major
1. The main end-point of the study is the prevalence of the diseases. Additionally,
to calculate the incidence, it would be of interest to know how many of the 295
cases were diagnosed as new cases during the one year study inclusion period.
2. How was the disease activity divided into mild, moderate and severe? Which
scoring system did you use? Did you include endoscsopy and/or laboratory
tests?
3. Was the assessment of disease activity performed at the time of inclusion in
the study? If so, I suggest you calculate the median duration of the disease from
the time of diagnosis to the time of inclusion. This is important because disease
activity may have declined during the course.
Minor
4. How many patients did not have a full colonoscopy at the initial assessment?
Radiology may underestimate disease extent compared with endoscopy.
5. The type of hospital mentioned in the text seems somewhat confusing. District
Hospitals, Peripheral Units, Teaching hospitals and Base Hospitals are
mentioned. I would suggest you could simplify this paragraph according to Figure
1 which I find very informative (14 non-specialist hospitals refer all their
suspected IBD cases to one of the ten specialist hospitals for further diagnosis,
treatment and follow-up)
Discretionary
6. Reference 8 and 9 : The year of publication should be inserted after the name
of the journal (8) or is missing (9)
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
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