Review for 10.1186/s12876-019-0963-7 (2019)

Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title : Presenting Symptoms in Inflammatory Bowel Dis ease: Descriptive Analysis of a 
Community -Based Inception Cohort  
 
Version: 0 Date: 06 Feb 2019  
 
Reviewer: Piotr Eder  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
Please include all comments for the authors in this box rather th an uploading your report as an 
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Please overwrite this text when adding y our comments to the authors.  
 
I read with interest paper by Perler et al. The paper describes data on the symptomatic 
phenotypes of IBD in patients with newly diagnosed disease.  
 
I have some major comments, which should be answered:  
 
1. What were the exac t criteria for CD and UC diagnosis? Since the main aim was to define 
the profile of initial symptoms in IBD, the reader should know, which patient was 
classified as IBD patient, and in which cases the data for the diagnosis were not 
sufficient.  
 
 
2. How were the data collected - retrospectively or prospectively? This was not clearly 
presented in the methods section. In case of retrospective data collection, the results of 
the study could be significantly biased.  
 
 
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Does the work include the necessary c ontrols?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Unable to assess  
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
Are you able to asse ss any statistics in the manus cript or would you recommend an 
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please speci fy what aspects require further 
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I am able to assess t he statistics  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Acceptable  
 
 
 
 
Declaration of competing interests  
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