Title: No significant relationship exists between tumor size and prognosis in distant metastatic
hepatocellular carcinoma#a propensity score matching analysis based on SEER database.
Version: 7 Date: 18 Mar 2022
Reviewer's report:
"PEER REVIEWER ASSESSMENTS:
OBJECTIVE - Full research articles: is there a clear objective that addresses a testable research
question(s) (brief or other article types: is there a clear objective)?
Yes - there is a clear objective
DESIGN - Is the current approach (including controls and analysis protocols) appropriate for
the objective?
Yes - the approach is appropriate
EXECUTION - Are the experiments and analyses performed with technical rigor to allow
confidence in the results?
Yes - experiments and analyses were performed appropriately
STATISTICS - Is the use of statistics in the manuscript appropriate?
Yes - appropriate statistical analyses have been used in the study
INTERPRETATION - Is the current interpretation/discussion of the results reasonable and not
overstated?
Yes - the author's interpretation is reasonable
OVERALL MANUSCRIPT POTENTIAL - Is the current version of this work technically
sound? If not, can revisions be made to make the work technically sound?
Probably - with minor revisions
PEER REVIEWER COMMENTS:
GENERAL COMMENTS: Overall, this is a well written paper that describes how a propensity
analysis to study the question as to whether tumor size is related to survival time in patients who
have distant metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) observed.
ADDITIONAL REQUESTS/SUGGESTIONS:
After propensity analysis, the sample size sizes in the two groups that are formed by the tumor
size are overall relatively small, under 200 in each group.
Another issue are that the odds ratio turned out to be 1.2 with a confidence interval including 1.0.
This could be due to relatively small sample size.  A statistical power analysis would be helpful."
Title: No significant relationship exists between tumor size and prognosis in distant metastatic
hepatocellular carcinoma#a propensity score matching analysis based on SEER database.
Version: 7 Date: 18 Mar 2022
Reviewer's report:
"PEER REVIEWER ASSESSMENTS:
OBJECTIVE - Full research articles: is there a clear objective that addresses a testable research
question(s) (brief or other article types: is there a clear objective)?
Yes - there is a clear objective
DESIGN - Is the current approach (including controls and analysis protocols) appropriate for
the objective?
Yes - the approach is appropriate
EXECUTION - Are the experiments and analyses performed with technical rigor to allow
confidence in the results?
Yes - experiments and analyses were performed appropriately
STATISTICS - Is the use of statistics in the manuscript appropriate?
Yes - appropriate statistical analyses have been used in the study
INTERPRETATION - Is the current interpretation/discussion of the results reasonable and not
overstated?
Yes - the author's interpretation is reasonable
OVERALL MANUSCRIPT POTENTIAL - Is the current version of this work technically
sound? If not, can revisions be made to make the work technically sound?
Probably - with minor revisions
PEER REVIEWER COMMENTS:
GENERAL COMMENTS: Overall, this is a well written paper that describes how a propensity
analysis to study the question as to whether tumor size is related to survival time in patients who
have distant metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) observed.
ADDITIONAL REQUESTS/SUGGESTIONS:
After propensity analysis, the sample size sizes in the two groups that are formed by the tumor
size are overall relatively small, under 200 in each group.
Another issue are that the odds ratio turned out to be 1.2 with a confidence interval including 1.0.
This could be due to relatively small sample size.  A statistical power analysis would be helpful."
Please review this paper.
user
Title: No significant relationship exists between tumor size and prognosis in distant metastatic
hepatocellular carcinoma#a propensity score matching analysis based on SEER database.
Version: 7 Date: 18 Mar 2022
Reviewer's report:
"PEER REVIEWER ASSESSMENTS:
OBJECTIVE - Full research articles: is there a clear objective that addresses a testable research
question(s) (brief or other article types: is there a clear objective)?
Yes - there is a clear objective
DESIGN - Is the current approach (including controls and analysis protocols) appropriate for
the objective?
Yes - the approach is appropriate
EXECUTION - Are the experiments and analyses performed with technical rigor to allow
confidence in the results?
Yes - experiments and analyses were performed appropriately
STATISTICS - Is the use of statistics in the manuscript appropriate?
Yes - appropriate statistical analyses have been used in the study
INTERPRETATION - Is the current interpretation/discussion of the results reasonable and not
overstated?
Yes - the author's interpretation is reasonable
OVERALL MANUSCRIPT POTENTIAL - Is the current version of this work technically
sound? If not, can revisions be made to make the work technically sound?
Probably - with minor revisions
PEER REVIEWER COMMENTS:
GENERAL COMMENTS: Overall, this is a well written paper that describes how a propensity
analysis to study the question as to whether tumor size is related to survival time in patients who
have distant metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) observed.
ADDITIONAL REQUESTS/SUGGESTIONS:
After propensity analysis, the sample size sizes in the two groups that are formed by the tumor
size are overall relatively small, under 200 in each group.
Another issue are that the odds ratio turned out to be 1.2 with a confidence interval including 1.0.
This could be due to relatively small sample size.  A statistical power analysis would be helpful."
assistant