Review for 10.1186/s12876-020-01278-z (2020)

Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Association between NAFLD and risk of prevalent chronic  kidney disease: Why there is a 
difference between East and West?  
 
Version: 0 Date: 06 Mar 2020  
 
Reviewer: Ludovico Abenavoli  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
- Introduction section: i sug gest to include data about liver transplantation for NAFLD with and 
without kidney associated transplant. Also, it has also been established that there is a strong 
association between NAFLD and CKD, regardless of the presence of potential confounding 
disea ses such as obesity, hypertension and type 2 diabetes, in the context of a metabolic 
syndrome (PMID:27610012; 32059982). Finally define CKD as a progressive chronic condition 
that is defined by either abnormalities of kidney structure or function present f or&gt;−3 months, 
with severe implications for health  
 
- Methods section: i suggest to separate anthropometric to biochemical measurements and to well 
define both, as a US definitionof steatosis  
 
- Discussion section: a possible pathogentic factor linked to d ifferent data found in these two 
population, may be represented by diet. In fact a western diet, rich in animal protein intake, is a 
dietary pattern that can induce CKD   
 
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, 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 manus cript 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 English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscr ipt: 
 
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 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 n ow 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 t o 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.  
 
no 
 
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 for publication, my n amed 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 in cluded as confidential comments 
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal