Title: Liver histology pattern of young patients with inactive chronic hepatitis B virus infection
from a Hospital in South West Nigeria
Version: 3 Date: 20 Jul 2024
Reviewer:  Sylvester Chuks Nwokediuko
Reviewer's report:
COMMENTS
Title :
It is clearly stated here that the study site is a hospital in South West Nigeria. However, it is also
stated under methods that the patients were recruited from the health institutions of the authors
of this study. The authors come from at least 3 continents with different HBV endemicities and
epidemiological patterns.
Study Rationale:
This is well stated. However the section on Background has a lot of information that should have
been reserved for discussion. The Background (Introduction) should be concise. It should start
with a statement of the gap in knowledge and how the study would try to bridge the gap.
Methodology
1. It is not clear where and how the patients for this study were recruited. If all the authors
contributed patients from their institutions, it should be clearly stated and reflected in the title.
Furthermore, it is not clear if an ethical approval obtained from one of the centers could be
applied to centers in other jurisdictions. This is important because the study involved an invasive
procedure on the participants.
2. Under Background/Introduction it is stated that patients who are less than 30 years with CHB
sometimes develop liver cancer in sub-Saharan Africa. Ideally the study should have either
concentrated on such patients or subjected them to a subgroup analysis.
3. Co-infection with HCV and HIH were considered and excluded. Why was co-infection with
HDV not considered, being a potential confounder in the observed histological changes?
4. How many pathologists were involved in reading the slides?
Results
Clearly stated, however the details of the HBV DNA (Viral load) of the participants were not
included. Was the viral load done in the same laboratory for all the participants?
Discussion
This needs to be improved. This is the section where most of the cited studies under Background
should be featured.
References
This section did not follow any pattern. In some cases, 3 authors are listed, followed by et al
while in others you have 4 or 5 authors listed before et al. Any chosen style of referencing must
be consistently used throughout the manuscript.
Title: Liver histology pattern of young patients with inactive chronic hepatitis B virus infection
from a Hospital in South West Nigeria
Version: 3 Date: 20 Jul 2024
Reviewer:  Sylvester Chuks Nwokediuko
Reviewer's report:
COMMENTS
Title :
It is clearly stated here that the study site is a hospital in South West Nigeria. However, it is also
stated under methods that the patients were recruited from the health institutions of the authors
of this study. The authors come from at least 3 continents with different HBV endemicities and
epidemiological patterns.
Study Rationale:
This is well stated. However the section on Background has a lot of information that should have
been reserved for discussion. The Background (Introduction) should be concise. It should start
with a statement of the gap in knowledge and how the study would try to bridge the gap.
Methodology
1. It is not clear where and how the patients for this study were recruited. If all the authors
contributed patients from their institutions, it should be clearly stated and reflected in the title.
Furthermore, it is not clear if an ethical approval obtained from one of the centers could be
applied to centers in other jurisdictions. This is important because the study involved an invasive
procedure on the participants.
2. Under Background/Introduction it is stated that patients who are less than 30 years with CHB
sometimes develop liver cancer in sub-Saharan Africa. Ideally the study should have either
concentrated on such patients or subjected them to a subgroup analysis.
3. Co-infection with HCV and HIH were considered and excluded. Why was co-infection with
HDV not considered, being a potential confounder in the observed histological changes?
4. How many pathologists were involved in reading the slides?
Results
Clearly stated, however the details of the HBV DNA (Viral load) of the participants were not
included. Was the viral load done in the same laboratory for all the participants?
Discussion
This needs to be improved. This is the section where most of the cited studies under Background
should be featured.
References
This section did not follow any pattern. In some cases, 3 authors are listed, followed by et al
while in others you have 4 or 5 authors listed before et al. Any chosen style of referencing must
be consistently used throughout the manuscript.
Please review this paper.
user
Title: Liver histology pattern of young patients with inactive chronic hepatitis B virus infection
from a Hospital in South West Nigeria
Version: 3 Date: 20 Jul 2024
Reviewer:  Sylvester Chuks Nwokediuko
Reviewer's report:
COMMENTS
Title :
It is clearly stated here that the study site is a hospital in South West Nigeria. However, it is also
stated under methods that the patients were recruited from the health institutions of the authors
of this study. The authors come from at least 3 continents with different HBV endemicities and
epidemiological patterns.
Study Rationale:
This is well stated. However the section on Background has a lot of information that should have
been reserved for discussion. The Background (Introduction) should be concise. It should start
with a statement of the gap in knowledge and how the study would try to bridge the gap.
Methodology
1. It is not clear where and how the patients for this study were recruited. If all the authors
contributed patients from their institutions, it should be clearly stated and reflected in the title.
Furthermore, it is not clear if an ethical approval obtained from one of the centers could be
applied to centers in other jurisdictions. This is important because the study involved an invasive
procedure on the participants.
2. Under Background/Introduction it is stated that patients who are less than 30 years with CHB
sometimes develop liver cancer in sub-Saharan Africa. Ideally the study should have either
concentrated on such patients or subjected them to a subgroup analysis.
3. Co-infection with HCV and HIH were considered and excluded. Why was co-infection with
HDV not considered, being a potential confounder in the observed histological changes?
4. How many pathologists were involved in reading the slides?
Results
Clearly stated, however the details of the HBV DNA (Viral load) of the participants were not
included. Was the viral load done in the same laboratory for all the participants?
Discussion
This needs to be improved. This is the section where most of the cited studies under Background
should be featured.
References
This section did not follow any pattern. In some cases, 3 authors are listed, followed by et al
while in others you have 4 or 5 authors listed before et al. Any chosen style of referencing must
be consistently used throughout the manuscript.
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