Title: Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Diagnosis of Constipation-predominant Irritable
Bowel Syndrome and Functional Constipation in Adults: A Scoping Review
Version: 2 Date: 25 Feb 2025
Reviewer's report:
Thank you for a very interesting scooping review manuscript on clinical practice
guidelines (CPGs) for functional constipation and irritable bowel syndrome with constipation
predominance. The manuscript has greatly improved since the first round of review, but still
some issues remain.
I would recommend the authors to revise the use of present or past tense throughout the
manuscript, especially in the Methods and Discussion section. Also, the Lower Endoscopy,
Laboratory Test and Imaging Tests and Assessment for Motility parts needs a minor language
revision, due to long and somewhat unclear sentences.
The manuscript describes the use of Bristol Stool Form Scale (BSFS) type 3 in some CPGs,
but I miss an explanation of the types of BSFS commonly used in the criteria for IBS-C (which
should be BSFS type 1 and 2).
Some minor comments:
Please consider moving the description of the one and only CPG with abdominal pain severity
criteria from the abstract to row 221, as it is a minor, although important, finding of the study.
In row 236, you present that many, but not all CPGs consider abdominal discomfort without
pain as one of the criteria for IBS, but did not mention how many of these were Rome III based
CPGs. In Rome III, either abdominal pain or discomfort were a part of IBS criteria and thus, it
would be natural for these CPGs to include abdominal discomfort as one of their criteria.
Title: Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Diagnosis of Constipation-predominant Irritable
Bowel Syndrome and Functional Constipation in Adults: A Scoping Review
Version: 2 Date: 25 Feb 2025
Reviewer's report:
Thank you for a very interesting scooping review manuscript on clinical practice
guidelines (CPGs) for functional constipation and irritable bowel syndrome with constipation
predominance. The manuscript has greatly improved since the first round of review, but still
some issues remain.
I would recommend the authors to revise the use of present or past tense throughout the
manuscript, especially in the Methods and Discussion section. Also, the Lower Endoscopy,
Laboratory Test and Imaging Tests and Assessment for Motility parts needs a minor language
revision, due to long and somewhat unclear sentences.
The manuscript describes the use of Bristol Stool Form Scale (BSFS) type 3 in some CPGs,
but I miss an explanation of the types of BSFS commonly used in the criteria for IBS-C (which
should be BSFS type 1 and 2).
Some minor comments:
Please consider moving the description of the one and only CPG with abdominal pain severity
criteria from the abstract to row 221, as it is a minor, although important, finding of the study.
In row 236, you present that many, but not all CPGs consider abdominal discomfort without
pain as one of the criteria for IBS, but did not mention how many of these were Rome III based
CPGs. In Rome III, either abdominal pain or discomfort were a part of IBS criteria and thus, it
would be natural for these CPGs to include abdominal discomfort as one of their criteria.
Please review this paper.
user
Title: Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Diagnosis of Constipation-predominant Irritable
Bowel Syndrome and Functional Constipation in Adults: A Scoping Review
Version: 2 Date: 25 Feb 2025
Reviewer's report:
Thank you for a very interesting scooping review manuscript on clinical practice
guidelines (CPGs) for functional constipation and irritable bowel syndrome with constipation
predominance. The manuscript has greatly improved since the first round of review, but still
some issues remain.
I would recommend the authors to revise the use of present or past tense throughout the
manuscript, especially in the Methods and Discussion section. Also, the Lower Endoscopy,
Laboratory Test and Imaging Tests and Assessment for Motility parts needs a minor language
revision, due to long and somewhat unclear sentences.
The manuscript describes the use of Bristol Stool Form Scale (BSFS) type 3 in some CPGs,
but I miss an explanation of the types of BSFS commonly used in the criteria for IBS-C (which
should be BSFS type 1 and 2).
Some minor comments:
Please consider moving the description of the one and only CPG with abdominal pain severity
criteria from the abstract to row 221, as it is a minor, although important, finding of the study.
In row 236, you present that many, but not all CPGs consider abdominal discomfort without
pain as one of the criteria for IBS, but did not mention how many of these were Rome III based
CPGs. In Rome III, either abdominal pain or discomfort were a part of IBS criteria and thus, it
would be natural for these CPGs to include abdominal discomfort as one of their criteria.
assistant