Reviewer's report
Title:Diagnostic sensitivity of carbohydrate deficient transferrin in heavy drinkers
Version:2Date:9 March 2014
Reviewer: Koji Uchino
Reviewer's report:
In this study, Fagan KJ et al. investigated the factors that affect diagnostic
sensitivity of carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT) in patients with sustained
heavy alcohol intake. The authors reported that the sensitivity of CDT based on a
threshold value of %CDT > 1.7 was 50% and that overweigh/obesity, female
gender and presence of cirrhosis were independently associated with
non-diagnostic %CDT.
Although the manuscript is well written and the findings are of interest, one main
concern is that the sample size is smaller than previous studies. Fifty-two
patients were included in this study, however, it is too small to determine the
factors that affect diagnostic sensitivity. Larger sample size would be needed to
obtain any conclusive results.
Specific comments
1) Diagnostic method of cirrhosis is unclear. How did the authors diagnose as
cirrhosis when liver biopsy was not performed ?
2) In the baseline characteristics of the patients, clinical factors such as serum
aminotransferases, gamma-glutamyltransferase, platelet count, and mean
corpuscular volume, which are essential in discussing alcoholic liver injury were
missing.
Level of interest: An article of limited interest
Quality of written English: Acceptable
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:Diagnostic sensitivity of carbohydrate deficient transferrin in heavy drinkers
Version:2Date:9 March 2014
Reviewer: Koji Uchino
Reviewer's report:
In this study, Fagan KJ et al. investigated the factors that affect diagnostic
sensitivity of carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT) in patients with sustained
heavy alcohol intake. The authors reported that the sensitivity of CDT based on a
threshold value of %CDT > 1.7 was 50% and that overweigh/obesity, female
gender and presence of cirrhosis were independently associated with
non-diagnostic %CDT.
Although the manuscript is well written and the findings are of interest, one main
concern is that the sample size is smaller than previous studies. Fifty-two
patients were included in this study, however, it is too small to determine the
factors that affect diagnostic sensitivity. Larger sample size would be needed to
obtain any conclusive results.
Specific comments
1) Diagnostic method of cirrhosis is unclear. How did the authors diagnose as
cirrhosis when liver biopsy was not performed ?
2) In the baseline characteristics of the patients, clinical factors such as serum
aminotransferases, gamma-glutamyltransferase, platelet count, and mean
corpuscular volume, which are essential in discussing alcoholic liver injury were
missing.
Level of interest: An article of limited interest
Quality of written English: Acceptable
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:Diagnostic sensitivity of carbohydrate deficient transferrin in heavy drinkers
Version:2Date:9 March 2014
Reviewer: Koji Uchino
Reviewer's report:
In this study, Fagan KJ et al. investigated the factors that affect diagnostic
sensitivity of carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT) in patients with sustained
heavy alcohol intake. The authors reported that the sensitivity of CDT based on a
threshold value of %CDT > 1.7 was 50% and that overweigh/obesity, female
gender and presence of cirrhosis were independently associated with
non-diagnostic %CDT.
Although the manuscript is well written and the findings are of interest, one main
concern is that the sample size is smaller than previous studies. Fifty-two
patients were included in this study, however, it is too small to determine the
factors that affect diagnostic sensitivity. Larger sample size would be needed to
obtain any conclusive results.
Specific comments
1) Diagnostic method of cirrhosis is unclear. How did the authors diagnose as
cirrhosis when liver biopsy was not performed ?
2) In the baseline characteristics of the patients, clinical factors such as serum
aminotransferases, gamma-glutamyltransferase, platelet count, and mean
corpuscular volume, which are essential in discussing alcoholic liver injury were
missing.
Level of interest: An article of limited interest
Quality of written English: Acceptable
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