Reviewer's report
Title:Discrimination of individuals in a general population at high-risk for
alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease based on liver stiffness
Version: 1Date:23 January 2011
Reviewer: Jing-Houng Wang
Reviewer's report:
The manuscript by Baba et al. analyzed the factors influencing liver stiffness (LS)
in a group of individuals for medical check-up routinely. They defined healthy
individuals and determined normal upper limit of LS as 6 kPa. For subjects with
LS>6kPa, higher proportion of subjects consume alcohol >20g/day. Higher LS
were also noted in individuals with fatty liver and abnormal liver function test. BMI
was the only factor for higher LS in multi-variate analysis. However, they
concluded LS could be used to monitor disease progression and discriminate
individuals at high risk of ALD and NAFLD.
1. Since this is a cross section study, it is improper to conclude LS could be used
in monitoring disease progression.
2. For LS in discriminating subjects in high risk of ALD and NAFLD, the validity of
LS should be provided.
3. From the result, the conclusion might be individuals attended routine medical
check-up with high BMI and abnormal liver function were at a high risk of higher
LS.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
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:Discrimination of individuals in a general population at high-risk for
alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease based on liver stiffness
Version: 1Date:23 January 2011
Reviewer: Jing-Houng Wang
Reviewer's report:
The manuscript by Baba et al. analyzed the factors influencing liver stiffness (LS)
in a group of individuals for medical check-up routinely. They defined healthy
individuals and determined normal upper limit of LS as 6 kPa. For subjects with
LS>6kPa, higher proportion of subjects consume alcohol >20g/day. Higher LS
were also noted in individuals with fatty liver and abnormal liver function test. BMI
was the only factor for higher LS in multi-variate analysis. However, they
concluded LS could be used to monitor disease progression and discriminate
individuals at high risk of ALD and NAFLD.
1. Since this is a cross section study, it is improper to conclude LS could be used
in monitoring disease progression.
2. For LS in discriminating subjects in high risk of ALD and NAFLD, the validity of
LS should be provided.
3. From the result, the conclusion might be individuals attended routine medical
check-up with high BMI and abnormal liver function were at a high risk of higher
LS.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
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:Discrimination of individuals in a general population at high-risk for
alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease based on liver stiffness
Version: 1Date:23 January 2011
Reviewer: Jing-Houng Wang
Reviewer's report:
The manuscript by Baba et al. analyzed the factors influencing liver stiffness (LS)
in a group of individuals for medical check-up routinely. They defined healthy
individuals and determined normal upper limit of LS as 6 kPa. For subjects with
LS>6kPa, higher proportion of subjects consume alcohol >20g/day. Higher LS
were also noted in individuals with fatty liver and abnormal liver function test. BMI
was the only factor for higher LS in multi-variate analysis. However, they
concluded LS could be used to monitor disease progression and discriminate
individuals at high risk of ALD and NAFLD.
1. Since this is a cross section study, it is improper to conclude LS could be used
in monitoring disease progression.
2. For LS in discriminating subjects in high risk of ALD and NAFLD, the validity of
LS should be provided.
3. From the result, the conclusion might be individuals attended routine medical
check-up with high BMI and abnormal liver function were at a high risk of higher
LS.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
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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