Title: Cardiometabolic Index as a Predictor of Gallstone Risk: Evidence from NHANES 2017–
2020
Version: 1 Date: 26 Jan 2025
Reviewer:  Erfan Arabpour
Reviewer's report:
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review this manuscript.  Following are my comments
Abstract
-What does the sentence mean? Make it more clear by paraphrasing it:"Cardiometabolic index
(CMI) is a marker that has responded to lipids and obesity in recent years"
Methods
-As I understood from the methods, the was no missing data in this study. If it is true, clearly
mention that. If not, mention is any data imputation performed? If yes, how and for which
variables?
Results
-In the result text, mention the number of patients in each group ( with/ without GB stone).
Moreover, instead of the semtence "Significant differences were observed between the groups,
highlighting distinct profiles for those with and without gallstones.", mention these variables
which were significantly different between the groups. However, no need to mention the detail
statistics, as the are presented in table 1.
-Presence of GB stone was determined by self-report in this study. Could author provide data
regarding the symptoms ( symptomatic/ asymptomatic GB stone). If the major proportion of
patients with GB stone were symptomatic, this study, in fact, assess the association of CMI and
symptomatic GB stone, not GB stone in general.
Data availability statement
-The link provided for data availability statement is flowed. The correct link is data availability
statement: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/index.html
Finally, I want to propose authors an interesting topic with this data: developing machine-
learning models for prediction of GB stone using NHANES data. This model, if be relatively
accurate, may be a tool for screening patients and those with high probability of GB stone,
undergo abdominal US for definite diagnosis.
Title: Cardiometabolic Index as a Predictor of Gallstone Risk: Evidence from NHANES 2017–
2020
Version: 1 Date: 26 Jan 2025
Reviewer:  Erfan Arabpour
Reviewer's report:
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review this manuscript.  Following are my comments
Abstract
-What does the sentence mean? Make it more clear by paraphrasing it:"Cardiometabolic index
(CMI) is a marker that has responded to lipids and obesity in recent years"
Methods
-As I understood from the methods, the was no missing data in this study. If it is true, clearly
mention that. If not, mention is any data imputation performed? If yes, how and for which
variables?
Results
-In the result text, mention the number of patients in each group ( with/ without GB stone).
Moreover, instead of the semtence "Significant differences were observed between the groups,
highlighting distinct profiles for those with and without gallstones.", mention these variables
which were significantly different between the groups. However, no need to mention the detail
statistics, as the are presented in table 1.
-Presence of GB stone was determined by self-report in this study. Could author provide data
regarding the symptoms ( symptomatic/ asymptomatic GB stone). If the major proportion of
patients with GB stone were symptomatic, this study, in fact, assess the association of CMI and
symptomatic GB stone, not GB stone in general.
Data availability statement
-The link provided for data availability statement is flowed. The correct link is data availability
statement: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/index.html
Finally, I want to propose authors an interesting topic with this data: developing machine-
learning models for prediction of GB stone using NHANES data. This model, if be relatively
accurate, may be a tool for screening patients and those with high probability of GB stone,
undergo abdominal US for definite diagnosis.
Please review this paper.
user
Title: Cardiometabolic Index as a Predictor of Gallstone Risk: Evidence from NHANES 2017–
2020
Version: 1 Date: 26 Jan 2025
Reviewer:  Erfan Arabpour
Reviewer's report:
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review this manuscript.  Following are my comments
Abstract
-What does the sentence mean? Make it more clear by paraphrasing it:"Cardiometabolic index
(CMI) is a marker that has responded to lipids and obesity in recent years"
Methods
-As I understood from the methods, the was no missing data in this study. If it is true, clearly
mention that. If not, mention is any data imputation performed? If yes, how and for which
variables?
Results
-In the result text, mention the number of patients in each group ( with/ without GB stone).
Moreover, instead of the semtence "Significant differences were observed between the groups,
highlighting distinct profiles for those with and without gallstones.", mention these variables
which were significantly different between the groups. However, no need to mention the detail
statistics, as the are presented in table 1.
-Presence of GB stone was determined by self-report in this study. Could author provide data
regarding the symptoms ( symptomatic/ asymptomatic GB stone). If the major proportion of
patients with GB stone were symptomatic, this study, in fact, assess the association of CMI and
symptomatic GB stone, not GB stone in general.
Data availability statement
-The link provided for data availability statement is flowed. The correct link is data availability
statement: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/index.html
Finally, I want to propose authors an interesting topic with this data: developing machine-
learning models for prediction of GB stone using NHANES data. This model, if be relatively
accurate, may be a tool for screening patients and those with high probability of GB stone,
undergo abdominal US for definite diagnosis.
assistant