Review for 10.1186/s12876-021-01916-0 (2021)

Reviewer’s report
Title: 
Ileostomy or ileal pouch-anal anastomosis for ulcerative colitis: Patient
participation and decisional needs.
Version: 
1 
Date: 
28 Apr 2021
Reviewer's report:
Dear Authors,
I was grateful for the opportunity to review your manuscript. It was well-written
and easy to understand.
I have the following suggestions for improvement and look forward to your
responses:
Major:
1. Numbers too small and the analysis not detailed enough to provide meaningful
conclusions. The narrative analysis is of interest but minimal scientific value,
and adds little novel information. 
2. The study is not reported with the same detail and rigour as a very similar
study that they cite in their references (doi: 10.1093/ibd/izx026). This cited paper
is a good template and may be useful to refer to to improve this paper.
3. It would be a useful addition to this manuscript for the authors to develop
their ideas regarding patient resources to help patients through this difficult
period of illness and decision making, both locally and web-based. What further
research are they planning to undertake to identify the optimum format for
decision making?
Minor: 
1. Clarify in the text that those participants with end ileostomies had
panproctocolectomies rather than total colectomies without intention to restore
continuity.
2. I would recommend the following reference as another example of a decision
aid in production: Baker DM, Lee MJ, Folan AM, Blackwell S, Robinson K,
Wootton R, et al. Development and evaluation of a patient decision aid for
patients considering ongoing medical or surgical treatment options for ulcerative
colitis using a mixed-methods approach: Protocol for DISCUSS study. BMJ
Open. 2020;10(1):1-7. 
3. I would also suggest including a summary of the resources available to
patients as decision aids, as an example: https://pouchsupport.org/ileo-anal-
pouch-surgery-a-guide-for-patients/
4. Were the influence of freely available internet or text resources discussed with
participants? It would be useful to include this
Kind regards
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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?
No
Are the methods sufficiently described to allow the study to be repeated?
No
Is the use of statistics and treatment of uncertainties appropriate?
Yes
Is the presentation of the work clear?
Yes
Are the images in this manuscript (including electrophoretic gels and blots) free
from apparent manipulation?
Yes