Review for 10.1186/s12876-023-02692-9 (2023)

Reviewer’s report
Title: 
Lifestyle Factors associated with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Data from
the Swiss IBD Cohort Study
Version: 
1 
Date: 
21 Dec 2022
Reviewer's report:
This is a study that evaluates lifestyle factors associated with inflammatory
bowel disease. From the methodological point of view, a cohort design carried
out in a relatively large sample like the one in this study, provides robust
information on causal factors as it incides at the level of causality research. Its
contribution is the identification of two factors related to lifestyle, mainly in
urban areas, such as physical activity and adiposity excess. The implication of
these findings is the need for intervention actions to modify these factors, which
are also related to other pathologies.
Considering the design, the statistical approach is rather poor since it only
focuses on demonstrating the probabilistic relationship and rejecting the null
hypothesis, but does not analyze specific risk indicators, which is the focus of
cohort designs.
Other form aspects are that there is inconsistency in the wording of the
bibliographic references (inconsistent use of et al., and capital letters in the
intermediate words of some titles). There is an excess of tables (they coud be
shortened) 
and if tables are analyzed independently they may not have enough
information for a proper interpretation (study population, statistical tests, etc).
Declaration of competing interests
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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?
Yes
Are the methods sufficiently described to allow the study to be repeated?
Yes
Is the use of statistics and treatment of uncertainties appropriate?
No
Is the presentation of the work clear?
Yes
Are the images in this manuscript (including electrophoretic gels and blots) free
from apparent manipulation?
Yes
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