Title: Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with reduced risk of Barrett’s esophagus: A
meta-analysis and systematic review
Version: 0 Date: 26 Sep 2021
Reviewer's report:
The authors have conducted a thorough systematic review and meta analysis into the potential
protective effect on Barrett's esophagus of Helicobacter pylori.
One of the strengths of the study are the relevant subgroup analyses. While there is great
heterogeneity among studies, these subgroup analyses provide us with important information.
I applaud the authors with their effort.
There are only a few minor concerns I would like to address below. I hope the authors are able
to revise the manuscript accordingly.
- While the methods and description of the results are sufficient, I feel the manuscript lacks in
translation of the findings into clinical relevance. The aim of the study should include a brief
discussion on why an inverse relation between HP and BE is clinically relevant.
Why are your findings important for clinical practice? Should it impact decisions on eradication
therapy for HP? This should be addressed in the discussion section. If relevance to clinical
practice is limited, this should also be mentioned.
- The potential protective effect of HP on BE might be explained by decreased acid secretion
due to corpus-predominant gastritis. This could be a plausible pathofysiological mechanism, but
this meta analysis is not able to make statements about causality. Please include a statement that
acknowledges this.
- Please revise the last sentence of the results section on page 9 to a statistically and
grammatically more correct version: "Due to lack of sufficient amount of research, we just could
not discuss single factor with all others controlled."
Title: Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with reduced risk of Barrett’s esophagus: A
meta-analysis and systematic review
Version: 0 Date: 26 Sep 2021
Reviewer's report:
The authors have conducted a thorough systematic review and meta analysis into the potential
protective effect on Barrett's esophagus of Helicobacter pylori.
One of the strengths of the study are the relevant subgroup analyses. While there is great
heterogeneity among studies, these subgroup analyses provide us with important information.
I applaud the authors with their effort.
There are only a few minor concerns I would like to address below. I hope the authors are able
to revise the manuscript accordingly.
- While the methods and description of the results are sufficient, I feel the manuscript lacks in
translation of the findings into clinical relevance. The aim of the study should include a brief
discussion on why an inverse relation between HP and BE is clinically relevant.
Why are your findings important for clinical practice? Should it impact decisions on eradication
therapy for HP? This should be addressed in the discussion section. If relevance to clinical
practice is limited, this should also be mentioned.
- The potential protective effect of HP on BE might be explained by decreased acid secretion
due to corpus-predominant gastritis. This could be a plausible pathofysiological mechanism, but
this meta analysis is not able to make statements about causality. Please include a statement that
acknowledges this.
- Please revise the last sentence of the results section on page 9 to a statistically and
grammatically more correct version: "Due to lack of sufficient amount of research, we just could
not discuss single factor with all others controlled."
Please review this paper.
user
Title: Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with reduced risk of Barrett’s esophagus: A
meta-analysis and systematic review
Version: 0 Date: 26 Sep 2021
Reviewer's report:
The authors have conducted a thorough systematic review and meta analysis into the potential
protective effect on Barrett's esophagus of Helicobacter pylori.
One of the strengths of the study are the relevant subgroup analyses. While there is great
heterogeneity among studies, these subgroup analyses provide us with important information.
I applaud the authors with their effort.
There are only a few minor concerns I would like to address below. I hope the authors are able
to revise the manuscript accordingly.
- While the methods and description of the results are sufficient, I feel the manuscript lacks in
translation of the findings into clinical relevance. The aim of the study should include a brief
discussion on why an inverse relation between HP and BE is clinically relevant.
Why are your findings important for clinical practice? Should it impact decisions on eradication
therapy for HP? This should be addressed in the discussion section. If relevance to clinical
practice is limited, this should also be mentioned.
- The potential protective effect of HP on BE might be explained by decreased acid secretion
due to corpus-predominant gastritis. This could be a plausible pathofysiological mechanism, but
this meta analysis is not able to make statements about causality. Please include a statement that
acknowledges this.
- Please revise the last sentence of the results section on page 9 to a statistically and
grammatically more correct version: "Due to lack of sufficient amount of research, we just could
not discuss single factor with all others controlled."
assistant