Review for 10.1186/s12876-020-1179-6 (2020)

Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Elobixibat alleviates chronic constipation in hemodialysis patients: A questionnaire -based 
study  
 
Version: 0 Date: 17 Aug 2019  
 
Revie wer: Brigida Barberio  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
The manuscript entitled "Eloxibat alleviates chronic constipation in hemodialysis patients: a 
questionnaire based study" by Kamei et al. aimed to verify the efficacy of Eloxibat in 
hemodialysis patients with chronic constip ation.  
 
Overall, the manuscript was well written and the topic was very interesting.  
 
 
I have the following concerns:  
 
- I think that is important to insert in the text the nature of the study (prospective?)  
 
- I think that should be interesting to divide th e patients in two groups, those who assumed &lt; = 
1 laxative (13 patients) and those who assumed &gt; 1 laxative (14 patients). Therefore, the 
efficacy of Eloxibat should be evaluated in these two different groups. In order to evaluate if the 
reported eff icacy of Eloxibat was dependent by the use of more laxatives.  
 
I have evaluated this manuscript and I think it should be accepted after minor revisions by BMC 
Gastroenterology.  
 
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Does the wo rk include the necessary controls?  
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.  
 
Yes 
 
Are you  able to assess any statistics in the manuscript 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 recommend additional statistical review  
 
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 following qu estions:  
 
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 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 i nterests 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.  
 
I declare that I have no competing interests  
 
I agree to the op en peer review policy of the journal. I understan d tha t 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 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 i ncluded as confidential comments 
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal