Review for 10.1186/s12876-020-01208-z (2020)

Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Long -term Outcomes and Quality of Life of Pat ients with Hirschsprung Disease: A 
Systematic Review and Meta -analysis  
 
Version: 1 Date: 21 Jul 2019  
 
Reviewer: Zaheer Nabi  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
In this manuscript entitled "Long -term Outcomes and Quality of Life of Patients with 
Hirschsprung Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta -analysis", the authors have reviewed the 
long term outcomes in children/ adolescents who underwent surgery for Hirschsprung's disease. 
This is the revised version of previous submission.  
 
 
My comments for the revision are as follows:  
 
1. The authors have improved upon their previous version of the manuscript to a great deal. 
Majority of my concer ns regarding the first version of the manuscript have been 
addressed in the revision.  
 
2. I am still worried for the overall readability of the manuscript. The flow is not smooth 
especially in the discussion part. I suggest this part to be improved. The dis cussion begins 
with sentences depicting a great volume of 'number data' which appears inappropriate. I 
would prefer that the first few sentences should clearly depict the salient findings of the 
study without incorporating the hard core data of the result section.  
 
Are the methods appropriate and well descr ibed?  
If not, please 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.  
 
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 assess any statistics in the manus cript or would you recommend an 
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is reco mmended, please speci fy what aspects require further 
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I recommend additional statistical review  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Needs some language corrections  before being published  
 
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, 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 the manuscript?  
 
4.  Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization 
that holds or has applied f or 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 compe ting interests' 
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 understan d that my name will be included 
on my report to the  authors and, if the manuscript is accepted f or 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 Common s 
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 in cluded as confidential comments 
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open pe er review policy of the journal