Reviewer's report
Title:MELD score and antibiotics use are predictors of length of stay in patients
hospitalized with hepatic encephalopathy
Version:1Date:5 August 2014
Reviewer: Alireza Norouzi
Reviewer's report:
Major compulsory revisions:
1- Study has implicated a common problem but there is dissociation in writing e.g
introduction does not mean continuity for readers and I think some changes in
paragraphs (e.g definition of hepatic encephalopathy could be given in first
sentences,...), also this problem could be seen in presenting of results and
discussion
2- Inclusion and exclusion criteria are not specifically defined in method and are
given incomplete
3- Patients with several admission for HE at first data entry have not described
precisely, this could impact final statistics.
4- Other underlying diseases have not implicated specifically (they are large
numbers), also indication for admissions other than HE because in analysis
these patients had poorer outcome
5- Lactulose and rifaximin are the basic treatments for HE but it has not shown in
study why some patients have not received these and what had been given to
them
6- Variables included in multivariable analysis have not implicated precisely
7- Some baseline characteristics of patients were not addressed in study
properly
and HCV patients have not described specifically why they had more favorable
outcome
Minor essential revisions:
Some grammatical changes would be necessary and some abbreviations must
clearly be addressed (IRB, MELD, IQR,..)
In table 2 data about age and MELD score (first column in every part) have no
sense to reader
Maybe it would be better that table 2 presented in two parts
Level of interest: An article of limited interest
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: Yes, but I do not feel adequately qualified to assess the
statistics.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
Reviewer's report
Title:MELD score and antibiotics use are predictors of length of stay in patients
hospitalized with hepatic encephalopathy
Version:1Date:5 August 2014
Reviewer: Alireza Norouzi
Reviewer's report:
Major compulsory revisions:
1- Study has implicated a common problem but there is dissociation in writing e.g
introduction does not mean continuity for readers and I think some changes in
paragraphs (e.g definition of hepatic encephalopathy could be given in first
sentences,...), also this problem could be seen in presenting of results and
discussion
2- Inclusion and exclusion criteria are not specifically defined in method and are
given incomplete
3- Patients with several admission for HE at first data entry have not described
precisely, this could impact final statistics.
4- Other underlying diseases have not implicated specifically (they are large
numbers), also indication for admissions other than HE because in analysis
these patients had poorer outcome
5- Lactulose and rifaximin are the basic treatments for HE but it has not shown in
study why some patients have not received these and what had been given to
them
6- Variables included in multivariable analysis have not implicated precisely
7- Some baseline characteristics of patients were not addressed in study
properly
and HCV patients have not described specifically why they had more favorable
outcome
Minor essential revisions:
Some grammatical changes would be necessary and some abbreviations must
clearly be addressed (IRB, MELD, IQR,..)
In table 2 data about age and MELD score (first column in every part) have no
sense to reader
Maybe it would be better that table 2 presented in two parts
Level of interest: An article of limited interest
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: Yes, but I do not feel adequately qualified to assess the
statistics.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report
Title:MELD score and antibiotics use are predictors of length of stay in patients
hospitalized with hepatic encephalopathy
Version:1Date:5 August 2014
Reviewer: Alireza Norouzi
Reviewer's report:
Major compulsory revisions:
1- Study has implicated a common problem but there is dissociation in writing e.g
introduction does not mean continuity for readers and I think some changes in
paragraphs (e.g definition of hepatic encephalopathy could be given in first
sentences,...), also this problem could be seen in presenting of results and
discussion
2- Inclusion and exclusion criteria are not specifically defined in method and are
given incomplete
3- Patients with several admission for HE at first data entry have not described
precisely, this could impact final statistics.
4- Other underlying diseases have not implicated specifically (they are large
numbers), also indication for admissions other than HE because in analysis
these patients had poorer outcome
5- Lactulose and rifaximin are the basic treatments for HE but it has not shown in
study why some patients have not received these and what had been given to
them
6- Variables included in multivariable analysis have not implicated precisely
7- Some baseline characteristics of patients were not addressed in study
properly
and HCV patients have not described specifically why they had more favorable
outcome
Minor essential revisions:
Some grammatical changes would be necessary and some abbreviations must
clearly be addressed (IRB, MELD, IQR,..)
In table 2 data about age and MELD score (first column in every part) have no
sense to reader
Maybe it would be better that table 2 presented in two parts
Level of interest: An article of limited interest
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: Yes, but I do not feel adequately qualified to assess the
statistics.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
assistant