Reviewer's report
Title:Acupuncture for irritable bowel syndrome: primary care based pragmatic
randomised controlled trial
Version: 1Date:16 July 2012
Reviewer: Charlotte Paterson
Reviewer's report:
This is a very clear and comprehensive report of a pragmatic randomised trial of
traditional acupuncture for people with irritable bowel syndrome. It builds on a
pilot project and the methods are appropriate and well justified.
Minor Essential Revisions
1. The following sentence in the introduction is not clear:
In a UK survey, interest in acupuncture for IBS has been shown by 5% of
patients receiving acupuncture reporting having consulted primarily for
gastrointestinal complaints, the most common being IBS(3).
Discretionary Revisions
2. The statement (in discussion and elsewhere) that ‘This effect was largely
sustained through to 12 months’ is a bit ambiguous. In fact it was sustained
through to 9 months and then became non-significant (just!). I think it would be
clearer, and less open to challenge, to say ‘This effect was sustained for 9
months’. This may also be advisable because the IBS Non- Colonic Score
showed a statistically significant difference at 3 months and not beyond.
3. Discussion point: should, if possible, comment on the low uptake of invitation
from GP (GP practices identified and invited 1,651 potentially eligible patients to
participate and 243 patients responded.) Do you know how this compares with
other trial intervention uptakes?
4. Discussion point: Is it worth hypothesising – for future trials – that more
sessions might give more benefit? Your data shows that patients were still
attending for treatment up to the end of 10 sessions and Figure 2 shows a steep
improvement which levels off quite abruptly when treatment ceases.
5. If there is room for another Table, the secondary outcome score table is of
great interest to people working in this field.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, but I do not feel adequately qualified to assess the
statistics.
Declaration of competing interests:
'I declare that I have no competing interests'
Reviewer's report
Title:Acupuncture for irritable bowel syndrome: primary care based pragmatic
randomised controlled trial
Version: 1Date:16 July 2012
Reviewer: Charlotte Paterson
Reviewer's report:
This is a very clear and comprehensive report of a pragmatic randomised trial of
traditional acupuncture for people with irritable bowel syndrome. It builds on a
pilot project and the methods are appropriate and well justified.
Minor Essential Revisions
1. The following sentence in the introduction is not clear:
In a UK survey, interest in acupuncture for IBS has been shown by 5% of
patients receiving acupuncture reporting having consulted primarily for
gastrointestinal complaints, the most common being IBS(3).
Discretionary Revisions
2. The statement (in discussion and elsewhere) that ‘This effect was largely
sustained through to 12 months’ is a bit ambiguous. In fact it was sustained
through to 9 months and then became non-significant (just!). I think it would be
clearer, and less open to challenge, to say ‘This effect was sustained for 9
months’. This may also be advisable because the IBS Non- Colonic Score
showed a statistically significant difference at 3 months and not beyond.
3. Discussion point: should, if possible, comment on the low uptake of invitation
from GP (GP practices identified and invited 1,651 potentially eligible patients to
participate and 243 patients responded.) Do you know how this compares with
other trial intervention uptakes?
4. Discussion point: Is it worth hypothesising – for future trials – that more
sessions might give more benefit? Your data shows that patients were still
attending for treatment up to the end of 10 sessions and Figure 2 shows a steep
improvement which levels off quite abruptly when treatment ceases.
5. If there is room for another Table, the secondary outcome score table is of
great interest to people working in this field.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, but I do not feel adequately qualified to assess the
statistics.
Declaration of competing interests:
'I declare that I have no competing interests'
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report
Title:Acupuncture for irritable bowel syndrome: primary care based pragmatic
randomised controlled trial
Version: 1Date:16 July 2012
Reviewer: Charlotte Paterson
Reviewer's report:
This is a very clear and comprehensive report of a pragmatic randomised trial of
traditional acupuncture for people with irritable bowel syndrome. It builds on a
pilot project and the methods are appropriate and well justified.
Minor Essential Revisions
1. The following sentence in the introduction is not clear:
In a UK survey, interest in acupuncture for IBS has been shown by 5% of
patients receiving acupuncture reporting having consulted primarily for
gastrointestinal complaints, the most common being IBS(3).
Discretionary Revisions
2. The statement (in discussion and elsewhere) that ‘This effect was largely
sustained through to 12 months’ is a bit ambiguous. In fact it was sustained
through to 9 months and then became non-significant (just!). I think it would be
clearer, and less open to challenge, to say ‘This effect was sustained for 9
months’. This may also be advisable because the IBS Non- Colonic Score
showed a statistically significant difference at 3 months and not beyond.
3. Discussion point: should, if possible, comment on the low uptake of invitation
from GP (GP practices identified and invited 1,651 potentially eligible patients to
participate and 243 patients responded.) Do you know how this compares with
other trial intervention uptakes?
4. Discussion point: Is it worth hypothesising – for future trials – that more
sessions might give more benefit? Your data shows that patients were still
attending for treatment up to the end of 10 sessions and Figure 2 shows a steep
improvement which levels off quite abruptly when treatment ceases.
5. If there is room for another Table, the secondary outcome score table is of
great interest to people working in this field.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, but I do not feel adequately qualified to assess the
statistics.
Declaration of competing interests:
'I declare that I have no competing interests'
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