Review for 10.1186/s12876-019-1020-2 (2019)

Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Antiviral therapy reduces rebleeding rate in patients with hepatitis B -related cirrhosis with 
acute variceal bleeding after endotherapy  
 
Version: 2 Date: 26 Mar 2019  
 
Reviewer: Research Square  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
"STATISTICAL REVIEWER ASSESSMENT:  
Is the study design appropriate for the research question (considering whether the analyzed 
population accurately reflects the design and whether you see any problems with 
control/comparison groups, e.g., likely confounders)?  
Yes - overall design, population, and control groups are appropriate  
 
Are methodologies adequate and well implemented (considering whether assumptions are 
addressed and whether analyses are robust)?  
No - there are minor issues  
 
Are the analyses adequately communicated (considering whether reporting details are adequate 
and whether figures and tables are well labeled and described)?  
No - there are minor issues  
 
Does the interpretation accurately reflec t the analyses without overstatement (considering 
whether limitations/bias are acknowledged and whether accurate descriptors, e.g., 'significant', 
are used?  
No - there are minor issues  
 
Could an appropriately REVISED version of this work represent a statis tically sound 
contribution?  
Probably - with minor revisions  
STATISTICAL REVIEWER COMMENTS:  
Introduction: There should be more background provided in the first paragraph regarding chronic 
HBV in China.  
 
Methods  
State how much decrease in blood volume (pa ge 4, line 53).  
How as the clinical data collected and by whom? Why was there no follow up at 4 years? I do 
not understand why they were not followed up at 3, 6 or 9 months after endotherapy. Please 
explain  
Please provide a citation for R software (page 6,  line 13).  
Did you look at both unadjusted and adjusted ORs? If yes, please state this in the methods 
section. If no, please justify.  
Describe the propensity score matching method (page 6, line 42) in brief.  
Discussion  
Discuss further studies and how they may build on this work.  
 
REQUESTED REVISIONS:  
The statistical methods are sound and appropriate for this study. I would advise the authors to 
review my suggestions regarding the methods/materials section of the paper and revise 
accordingly. I am happy to  review the manuscript once they changes have been made."  
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
No 
 
Does the work include the necessary c ontrols?  
If not, please 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.  
 
No 
 
Are you able to assess any statist ics in the manuscript or would you recommend an  
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further  
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I am able to assess the statistics  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Acceptable  
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the follo wing questions:  
 
1. Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an  
organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this  
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2. Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that 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 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 com peting interests in relation to this paper?  
 
If you can answer no to all of the above, write 'I declare that I have no competing interests' 
below.  If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
This reviewer has been recruited by a partner organization, Research Square. Reviewers with 
declared or apparent competing interests are not utilized for these reviews. This reviewer has 
agreed to publication of their comments o nline under a Creative Commons Attribution License 
attributed to Research Square and was paid a small honorarium for completing the review within 
a specified timeframe. Honoraria for reviews such as this are paid regardless of the reviewer 
recommendation.  
 
I agree to the open peer revie w policy of the journal. I understand that my name will be included  
on my report to the authors and, if the manuscript 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 co nfidential comments  
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal