Review for 10.1186/s12876-019-1013-1 (2019)

Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: A case report of psychiatric symptoms following direct -acting antiviral and ribavirin 
combination therapy for chronic hepatitis C in a patient with innate anxiety  
 
Version: 2 Date: 02 May 2019  
 
Reviewer: Reviewer 2  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
REVISION ASSESSMENT FROM THE ACADEMIC PEER REVIEWER:  
Has the author addressed your concerns sufficiently for you to now recommend the work as a 
technically sound con tribution?  
Yes 
 
Reviewer comments: Overall this manuscript describes a clinical case of psychiatric 
decompensation in a patient undergoing oral DAA therapy for chronic HCV infection in context 
of prior IFN -associated anxiety episode.  
 
REQUESTED REVISIONS:   
The authors' review of IFN -associated psychiatric side effects is far too lengthy and largely 
irrelevant as this is very well known and thoroughly described in the literature and should be 
shortened.  Most importantly, the authors cannot definitely deter mine if DAAs truly precipitated 
the new psychiatric event or whether this was attributable to other causes including worsening of 
underlying primary psychiatric disease.  As such this should be clearly stated in the discussion 
section.  
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, pl ease specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the da ta shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
No 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an  
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further  
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
Not relevant to this manuscript  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript : 
 
Acceptable  
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following questions:  
 
1. Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding , or salary from an  
organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this  
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2. Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way gain or lose  
financially from the  publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
3. Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the content of the  
manuscript?  
 
4. Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that 
holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript?  
 
5. Do you have any other financial competing interests?  
 
6. Do you have any non -financial competing interests in relation to this paper?  
 
If you can answer no to all of the above, writ e 'I declare that I have no competing interests' 
below.  If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
This reviewer has bee n recruited by a partner organization, Research Square. Reviewers with 
declared or apparent competing interests are not utilized for these reviews. This reviewer has 
agreed to publication of their comments online under a Creative Commons Attribution Licens e 
attributed to Research Square and was paid a small honorarium for completing the review within 
a specified timeframe. Honoraria for reviews such as this are paid regardless of the reviewer 
recommendation.  
 
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