Reviewer’s report
Title: 
Fears and Barriers: Problems in Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment in
Pakistan
Version: 
1 
Date: 
20 Jan 2021
Reviewer's report:
There are a number of grammatical errors - an English fluent editor should
review the manuscript.
It does not seem as though this was the right sample to ask about screening as it
seems they had detected their own tumors so it was too late for screening. I
would suggest that the research question that is more relevant is looking at
barriers towards diagnosis and treatment. 
Also given that these women detected
their own tumors, are they really all stage 1 and 2? 
Page 3, line 19 - this sentence is awkward: In addition, improved awareness
about the screening of mammography has decreased in nearly 30% of cases and
reduced breast cancer mortality…
Line 33 - what are some of these socio-economic and cultural factors?
Line 48 what do you mean by hectic? Maybe that is the wrong word to choose?
Line 56 - is there no insurance in Pakistan? Do patients have to pay a lot for
medications? Would this actually fit in the category of low socioeconomic
status?
Page 5, line 34 - further interviews were not seized, authors might mean ceased?
If the study was looking at screening, why chose women who were already
diagnosed with breast cancer?
Page 6, line 7 - semi structured interview, not guideline
Why was each participant interviewed twice?
The themes and subthemes are confusing - I would suggest that the authors
decrease the number of subthemes and try to find a way to consolidate into
larger themes.
At the bottom of page 15 a woman's quote talks about children, but she is listed
as single age 24-28. Is that correct?
Page 16, a woman aged 44-48, is considered too old for treatment? Is that
correct?
Page 19, line 48 - why the change in how citations are noted?
In table 1 - change how Age is included, authors can list different age ranges and
then stick with frequency and percentage.
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