Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02251-8 (2022)

Reviewer’s report
Title: 
Evaluation of screening tests for autoimmune gastritis in
histopathologically confirmed Japanese patients, and re-evaluation of
histopathological classification
Version: 
0 
Date: 
05 Feb 2022
Reviewer's report:
I am pleased to review this paper, entitled "Evaluation of screening tests for
autoimmune gastritis in histopathologically confirmed Japanese patients, and re-
evaluation of histopathological classification". This represents a single centre,
retrospective study conducted on 28 patients. Results showed 78.6% positive
predictive values for screening tests in autoimmune gastritis. The topic is of
interest, and the text is well written and correctly structured. I think it would be
suited for publication after minor revisions: 
- According to literature data, H.Pylori eradication can improve atrophic gastritis.
However, this occurs in 50-60% of patients after 5-10 years from Hp eradication,
thus leaving about 40-50% of previously infected patients with mucosal atrophy.
You mentioned that 12 patients (54.5%) were past infected from H.Pylori. Since
this prevalence is high, it is important to specify the amount of time that passed
from infection eradication to autoimmune gastritis bioptic confirmation. This
information is relevant and should be specified in the text, since there might be
patients with persistent atrophy after Hp eradication, that might be falsely
attributed to autoimmune gastritis. Further, was there any association between
previously infected H.Pylori patients and the severity of atrophy? If these
evaluations are not available, please specify this in the texts, as it potentially
represents a limit of the study. 
- You correctly mentioned that patients with chronic renal failure have higher
gastrin levels, please specify in the text whether there was any patient with this
condition. If so, please specify creatinine value and re-assess the statistics on
gastrin. 
- Section "background", line 15. Substitute "have been" with "has been" and
"biomarkers" with "biomarker".
- Section "tests and procedures", line 3. Substitute "because" with "since". 
- Section "tests and procedures", line 7. Substitute "briefly" with "briefly,". 
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Is the study design appropriate to answer the research question (including the use
of appropriate controls), and are the conclusions supported by the evidence
presented?
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Yes
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from apparent manipulation?
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