Review for 10.1186/s12876-023-03016-7 (2023)

Title: Multi-disciplinary cooperation for the micro-elimination of hepatitis C in China: A
hospital-based experience
Version: 2 Date: 11 Sep 2023
Reviewer's report:
This article provides information on how to more efficiently diagnose and treat patients with
hepatitis C, including educating clinicians not specializing in liver disease and patients about
the importance of treating hepatitis C. I believe this experience will be helpful to other countries
or regions in eliminating local hepatitis C. However, some problems still need to be addressed
to achieve better content.
1. The methodology in the abstract mentions multivariate logistic regression. It should be
multivariable logistic regression.
2. The Result in the abstract mentions cognitive progress and should be changed to knowledge
progress because cognitive is more like a neuropsychological term.
3. The abstract mentions multi-disciplinary cooperation model, and multi-disciplinary
collaboration model is also used. Please fix a noun for consistency.
4. Line 70 of the third page has one blank line, which should be redundant.
5. On page 3, line 73, it is mentioned that acute hepatitis C may lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer.
The word “acute” should be deleted.
6. Line 75 of the third page mentions SVR, where V generally refers to something other than
virodynamic, such as virologic.
7. The fifth reference can be considered to be changed to world-wide treatment guidelines.
The fifth reference mainly mentions Sofosbuvir-velpatasvir, but as we know, there are several
options for DAAs.
8. For the Global Health Sector Strategy mentioned in page 77 of the third page, the first word
of each word should be capitalized.
9. The epidemiological information mentioned in lines 81-83 of the third page cannot be found
according to the reference 8 you provided. Please confirm again.
10. Line 85 of the third page mentions that China has responded to the WHO’s call to eliminate
hepatitis C. This document is difficult to verify on the Internet. Please look for other public
documents that are easier to query.
11. It is difficult to find the reference 13 cited in line 91 of the third page. Please look for other
references that have been made public and published in journals. I think the 13th reference can
be directly replaced with the 14th reference.
12. Page 4, line 108, same as the previous question, please use cooperation or collaboration
uniformly.
13. Page 4, line 126, the word “processed” doesn’t seem to fit this context. Consider replacing
it with a different one, such as processes.
14. Page 7, line 161, “The doctors’ number of working years and professional titles was similar
to those of clinicians in the hospital.” I think was should be changed to were.
15. Page 7, line 171, “…A multivariate…”. The indefinite article, A, may be redundant when
used with the uncountable noun regression in your sentence. Besides, multivariate may be
changed to multivariable.
16. On page 8, line 185, you did not define the meaning of P25 and P75. Although I know it
should be the 25th and 75th percentile, you should first describe the nouns before you use the
term.
17. Page 9, line 209, “…40–59 years: odds ratio (OR): 9.135, 95%CI: 1.815–45.986…” seems
to be repeated. It seems like you originally planned to write the result of >60 years old.
18. On page 9, line 211, you mention tumor and other disease. Please give specific examples or
two of other diseases. If this description has the same meaning as the serious disease mentioned
in table 1, please use it consistently.
19. I'm a little confused, on page ten, table 1. How do you calculate the number of people who
have no antiviral therapy? Please describe it in detail.
20. Page 11, line 226. Cognitive is more commonly used in neuropsychology in medical
literature. It should just be called knowledge.
21. Page 11, line 235. …are asymptomatic…should be changed to were asymptomatic.
22. Page 12, line 244. Please use the terms multi-disciplinary cooperation or collaboration
consistently.
23. Page 13, line 275, you use…tumours, or other serious diseases…. But there is a gap in the
meaning of tumors or other serious diseases used in Table 1. The former is two variables, the
latter represents one. Please correct.
24. On page 13, line 277, you mentioned that…was the most important…. I think “it” should be
added in front of “was”, which means multi-disciplinary collaboration.
25. On page 14, line 285, you mentioned...with regard..., it seems that you missed a preposition
after the phrase.
26. On page 14, line 292, you used self-payment. It seems that out-of-pocket expenses should
be more appropriate.
27. On page 14, line 304, the 33rd document you quoted cannot be found on the Internet. Please
add or cite other documents that are easier to find.
28. Page 14, line 305, there seems to be a period missing in front of...Under....
29. Page 14, lines 307 to 308, "The excess medical expenses over the base payment will be borne
by the medical institutions." may be changed to "The medical institutions will bear the excess
medical expenses over the base payment" for better readability.
30. Page 14, line 312,...jointly. Should it be changed to the front of "issued" in line 311 to make
the semantics clearer.
31. Page 15, lines 323 to 331, this final conclusion seems not coherent enough with your topic. I
think you just say that your micro-elimination method can improve diagnosis and treatment rates,
further improve the status of patients' liver disease, and avoid the risk of potential transmission
to other people (such as needle sticks), so clinicians and patients would better understand the
importance of treating hepatitis C.