Title: The Influence of a Gluten-free Diet on Health-related Quality of Life in Individuals with
Celiac Disease
Version: 1 Date: 18 May 2021
Reviewer's report:
The study by Al-Sunaid et al. investigates the influence of a gluten-free diet on health-related
quality of life in individuals with CD. This is an important topic, and more studies on this issue
are certainly welcomed. This manuscript has several important findings and, in my opinion,
could be acceptable for publication, but it will need a major revision before that.
1. Major limitation of the study is a lack of adequate control group. This should be further
emphasized in the discussion.
2. Abstract: Many mean HRQOL values are given, but these points do not tell much for the
readers as such. Please clarify.
3. The authors have missed several relevant papers relevant papers for their study, which could
be added both to the Introduction and Discussion, see eg. Digestion. 2012;86:309-14; Nutrients
2019;11:1718; United European Gastroenterol J 2020;8:157-166
4. How was CD diagnosed? This is briefly mentioned in the discussion, but should be clarified
in the M&M
5. Was the use of What´s up really accepted by the ethical committee? I do not think it is safe/
personal information is inadequately protected, please clarify.
6. It is said that “participants with any other conditions that can affect HRQOL were excluded”.
How many cases were actually excluded? A flowchart might be helpful. Then later in the results
it is said that “only 24 participants had CD and other diseases.” This is confusing, so not all
patients with other conditions were excluded? Which were these conditions? T1D and allergies?
Certainly e.g T1D can affect to the HRQOL and even the allergies. Please clarify and discuss
further.
7. There are several misspellings/grammatical errors in the text, please check each sentence
carefully.
8. The result text repeats unnecessary a lot of data which are given in the relevant figure/table
just below (numbers, percentages etc.). The text should be more concise.
9. Fig. 1 can be removed.
10. Figures are unclear and of poor quality; they should be improved.
11. “…exhibited significant inverse correlations with…” etc. The actual correlation coefficients
are small = the correlation is weak although significant. P value is less important here. Please
discuss.
Title: The Influence of a Gluten-free Diet on Health-related Quality of Life in Individuals with
Celiac Disease
Version: 1 Date: 18 May 2021
Reviewer's report:
The study by Al-Sunaid et al. investigates the influence of a gluten-free diet on health-related
quality of life in individuals with CD. This is an important topic, and more studies on this issue
are certainly welcomed. This manuscript has several important findings and, in my opinion,
could be acceptable for publication, but it will need a major revision before that.
1. Major limitation of the study is a lack of adequate control group. This should be further
emphasized in the discussion.
2. Abstract: Many mean HRQOL values are given, but these points do not tell much for the
readers as such. Please clarify.
3. The authors have missed several relevant papers relevant papers for their study, which could
be added both to the Introduction and Discussion, see eg. Digestion. 2012;86:309-14; Nutrients
2019;11:1718; United European Gastroenterol J 2020;8:157-166
4. How was CD diagnosed? This is briefly mentioned in the discussion, but should be clarified
in the M&M
5. Was the use of What´s up really accepted by the ethical committee? I do not think it is safe/
personal information is inadequately protected, please clarify.
6. It is said that “participants with any other conditions that can affect HRQOL were excluded”.
How many cases were actually excluded? A flowchart might be helpful. Then later in the results
it is said that “only 24 participants had CD and other diseases.” This is confusing, so not all
patients with other conditions were excluded? Which were these conditions? T1D and allergies?
Certainly e.g T1D can affect to the HRQOL and even the allergies. Please clarify and discuss
further.
7. There are several misspellings/grammatical errors in the text, please check each sentence
carefully.
8. The result text repeats unnecessary a lot of data which are given in the relevant figure/table
just below (numbers, percentages etc.). The text should be more concise.
9. Fig. 1 can be removed.
10. Figures are unclear and of poor quality; they should be improved.
11. “…exhibited significant inverse correlations with…” etc. The actual correlation coefficients
are small = the correlation is weak although significant. P value is less important here. Please
discuss.
Please review this paper.
user
Title: The Influence of a Gluten-free Diet on Health-related Quality of Life in Individuals with
Celiac Disease
Version: 1 Date: 18 May 2021
Reviewer's report:
The study by Al-Sunaid et al. investigates the influence of a gluten-free diet on health-related
quality of life in individuals with CD. This is an important topic, and more studies on this issue
are certainly welcomed. This manuscript has several important findings and, in my opinion,
could be acceptable for publication, but it will need a major revision before that.
1. Major limitation of the study is a lack of adequate control group. This should be further
emphasized in the discussion.
2. Abstract: Many mean HRQOL values are given, but these points do not tell much for the
readers as such. Please clarify.
3. The authors have missed several relevant papers relevant papers for their study, which could
be added both to the Introduction and Discussion, see eg. Digestion. 2012;86:309-14; Nutrients
2019;11:1718; United European Gastroenterol J 2020;8:157-166
4. How was CD diagnosed? This is briefly mentioned in the discussion, but should be clarified
in the M&M
5. Was the use of What´s up really accepted by the ethical committee? I do not think it is safe/
personal information is inadequately protected, please clarify.
6. It is said that “participants with any other conditions that can affect HRQOL were excluded”.
How many cases were actually excluded? A flowchart might be helpful. Then later in the results
it is said that “only 24 participants had CD and other diseases.” This is confusing, so not all
patients with other conditions were excluded? Which were these conditions? T1D and allergies?
Certainly e.g T1D can affect to the HRQOL and even the allergies. Please clarify and discuss
further.
7. There are several misspellings/grammatical errors in the text, please check each sentence
carefully.
8. The result text repeats unnecessary a lot of data which are given in the relevant figure/table
just below (numbers, percentages etc.). The text should be more concise.
9. Fig. 1 can be removed.
10. Figures are unclear and of poor quality; they should be improved.
11. “…exhibited significant inverse correlations with…” etc. The actual correlation coefficients
are small = the correlation is weak although significant. P value is less important here. Please
discuss.
assistant