Reviewer's report
Title:Effects and Outcomes of Interferon Treatment in Japanese Hepatitis C
Patients
Version: 1Date:18 July 2012
Reviewer: Takafumi Saito
Reviewer's report:
Yamasaki et al. reported a long-term cohort study of HCV infection that was
carried out in small islands of Japan. In this manuscript, they have shown the
interventional effect of IFN therapy to HCV on the survival rate, irrespective of
viral response to this therapy. The findings of this paper are valuable, but several
points need to be addressed.
1. The study was carried out in the area endemic for HCV infection, where the
positivity rate of anti-HCV antibody was 7.6 %. The case of acute HCV infection
might have been included in the subjects. No information of liver histology has
been shown in 446 cases of hepatitis C in Table 1. Please put histological data in
this table to make clear whether all subjects had findings of chronic hepatitis.
2. HCV infection is involved in many extrahepatic conditions, particularly heart
disease or hematological malignancy may relate to the death. Please state “other
causes” of death in the text.
3. Fig.5 is complicated. Grouping looks a mismatch between the graph and
patients at risk . What is Group C (Fig.5B) ?
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
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:Effects and Outcomes of Interferon Treatment in Japanese Hepatitis C
Patients
Version: 1Date:18 July 2012
Reviewer: Takafumi Saito
Reviewer's report:
Yamasaki et al. reported a long-term cohort study of HCV infection that was
carried out in small islands of Japan. In this manuscript, they have shown the
interventional effect of IFN therapy to HCV on the survival rate, irrespective of
viral response to this therapy. The findings of this paper are valuable, but several
points need to be addressed.
1. The study was carried out in the area endemic for HCV infection, where the
positivity rate of anti-HCV antibody was 7.6 %. The case of acute HCV infection
might have been included in the subjects. No information of liver histology has
been shown in 446 cases of hepatitis C in Table 1. Please put histological data in
this table to make clear whether all subjects had findings of chronic hepatitis.
2. HCV infection is involved in many extrahepatic conditions, particularly heart
disease or hematological malignancy may relate to the death. Please state “other
causes” of death in the text.
3. Fig.5 is complicated. Grouping looks a mismatch between the graph and
patients at risk . What is Group C (Fig.5B) ?
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
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:Effects and Outcomes of Interferon Treatment in Japanese Hepatitis C
Patients
Version: 1Date:18 July 2012
Reviewer: Takafumi Saito
Reviewer's report:
Yamasaki et al. reported a long-term cohort study of HCV infection that was
carried out in small islands of Japan. In this manuscript, they have shown the
interventional effect of IFN therapy to HCV on the survival rate, irrespective of
viral response to this therapy. The findings of this paper are valuable, but several
points need to be addressed.
1. The study was carried out in the area endemic for HCV infection, where the
positivity rate of anti-HCV antibody was 7.6 %. The case of acute HCV infection
might have been included in the subjects. No information of liver histology has
been shown in 446 cases of hepatitis C in Table 1. Please put histological data in
this table to make clear whether all subjects had findings of chronic hepatitis.
2. HCV infection is involved in many extrahepatic conditions, particularly heart
disease or hematological malignancy may relate to the death. Please state “other
causes” of death in the text.
3. Fig.5 is complicated. Grouping looks a mismatch between the graph and
patients at risk . What is Group C (Fig.5B) ?
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
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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