Review for 10.1186/s12876-018-0814-y (2018)

Reviewer ’s report  
Title: Obesity increases the risk of erosive esophagitis but metabolic unh ealthiness alone does 
not: a large -scale cross -sectional study  
 
Version: 0 Date: 18 Mar 2018  
 
Reviewer: Antonella Santonicola  
 
Reviewer's report:  
This is a retrospective cross -sectional study on a large population investigating the relationship 
between the met abolic health status , obesity, erosive esophagitis (EE).  
This study confirms the link between central obesity and risk of EE, that was already 
demonstrated, but interestingly suggests that the risk of EE is not directly related to the metabolic 
unhealthin ess and that it is subordinate to obesity.  
 
However, there are some points to clarify:  
1) In the Methods (lines 8 -10) the authors report among the exclusion criteria the multiple 
upper gastrointestinal endoscopies during the study period. Why?  
2) In the Dis cussion the authors suggest that "an increased WBC count is a significant risk 
factor for EE" (line 1, page 11). The inflammation pathway is complex and several 
cytokines are involved. I think that is necessary to study and investigate this aspect before 
concluding that a higher WBC count increases the risk of EE. So, I suggest to modify this 
sentence stressing this limitation.  
 
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 controls?  
If not, ple ase specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
Yes 
 
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 assess any statistics in the manuscri pt 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 the statistics  
Quality of written En glish  
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 reimbursem ents, f ees, funding, or salary from an 
organisation that may in any way gain or lose financial ly from the publication of this 
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
2. Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation t hat 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 th e 
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, write 'I declare that I have no competing int erests' 
below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
I declare that I have no competing interests  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal. I understand that my name will be included 
on my report to the authors and, if the man uscript is accepted for publication, my named report 
including any attachments I upload will be posted on the website along with the authors' 
responses. I agree for my report to be made available under an Open Access Creative Commons 
CC-BY license ( http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ). I understand that any comments 
which I do not wish to be included in my named report can be included as confidential comments 
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the j ournal