Reviewer's report
Title:Oral bisphosphonates do not increase the risk of severe upper
gastrointestinal complications: a nested case-control study
Version: 1Date:14 May 2013
Reviewer: Ezgi Gulmez
Reviewer's report:
- Overall comments:
This is a well-written and interesting article evaluating use of oral
bisphosphonates and the risk of severe upper gastrointestinal complications, in a
nested case-control study in the Healthcare Utilisation Databases of the 13
Italian territorial units (four regions & nine local health authorities) participating at
the AIFA-BEST Project.
- Minor Essential Revisions
1) Background page 6: the acronym UGIC is written the first time, add “upper
gastrointestinal complications”.
2) Please provide more information about the HCU databases in Italy.
3) Please provide some more information about the AIFA-BEST project. Is it
conducted only in the mentioned 13 territorial units or is this a nationwide project
and data presented in the manuscript are from 13 territorial units? This then,
could explain a further question: Since there are only four regions participating to
the BEST project, in other words, the project is limited to specific geographical
areas, are the results adequately representative for Italy?
4) Please provide explanation for the different chosen periods for the cohort entry
(1 July 2003 – 31 December 2005) and the cases (hospitalization for UGIC until
2007).
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:Oral bisphosphonates do not increase the risk of severe upper
gastrointestinal complications: a nested case-control study
Version: 1Date:14 May 2013
Reviewer: Ezgi Gulmez
Reviewer's report:
- Overall comments:
This is a well-written and interesting article evaluating use of oral
bisphosphonates and the risk of severe upper gastrointestinal complications, in a
nested case-control study in the Healthcare Utilisation Databases of the 13
Italian territorial units (four regions & nine local health authorities) participating at
the AIFA-BEST Project.
- Minor Essential Revisions
1) Background page 6: the acronym UGIC is written the first time, add “upper
gastrointestinal complications”.
2) Please provide more information about the HCU databases in Italy.
3) Please provide some more information about the AIFA-BEST project. Is it
conducted only in the mentioned 13 territorial units or is this a nationwide project
and data presented in the manuscript are from 13 territorial units? This then,
could explain a further question: Since there are only four regions participating to
the BEST project, in other words, the project is limited to specific geographical
areas, are the results adequately representative for Italy?
4) Please provide explanation for the different chosen periods for the cohort entry
(1 July 2003 – 31 December 2005) and the cases (hospitalization for UGIC until
2007).
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:Oral bisphosphonates do not increase the risk of severe upper
gastrointestinal complications: a nested case-control study
Version: 1Date:14 May 2013
Reviewer: Ezgi Gulmez
Reviewer's report:
- Overall comments:
This is a well-written and interesting article evaluating use of oral
bisphosphonates and the risk of severe upper gastrointestinal complications, in a
nested case-control study in the Healthcare Utilisation Databases of the 13
Italian territorial units (four regions & nine local health authorities) participating at
the AIFA-BEST Project.
- Minor Essential Revisions
1) Background page 6: the acronym UGIC is written the first time, add “upper
gastrointestinal complications”.
2) Please provide more information about the HCU databases in Italy.
3) Please provide some more information about the AIFA-BEST project. Is it
conducted only in the mentioned 13 territorial units or is this a nationwide project
and data presented in the manuscript are from 13 territorial units? This then,
could explain a further question: Since there are only four regions participating to
the BEST project, in other words, the project is limited to specific geographical
areas, are the results adequately representative for Italy?
4) Please provide explanation for the different chosen periods for the cohort entry
(1 July 2003 – 31 December 2005) and the cases (hospitalization for UGIC until
2007).
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.
assistant