Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Anemia and its Determinant of In -school Adolescent Girls from Rural Ethiopia: A School 
Based Cross -Sectional Study  
 
Version: 3 Date: 26 Feb 2019  
 
Reviewer: Reviewer 2  
Reviewer's report:  
PEER REVIEWER ASSESSMENTS:  
 
OBJECTIVE - Full research articles: is there a clear objective that addresses a testable research 
question(s) (brief or other article types: is th ere a clear objective)?  
Yes - there is a clear objective  
 
DESIGN - Is the current approach (including controls and analysis protocols) appropriate for the 
objective?  
Yes - the approach is appropriate  
 
EXECUTION - Are the experiments and analyses performed with technical rigor to allow 
confidence in the results?  
Yes - experiments and analyses were performed appropriately  
 
Statistics - Is the use of statistics in the manuscript appropriate?  
Yes - appropri ate statistical analyses have been used in the study  
 
INTERPRETATION - Is the current interpretation/discussion of the results reasonable and not 
overstated?  
No - there are minor issues  
 
OVERALL MANUSCRIPT POTENTIAL - Is the current version of this work te chnically 
sound? If not, can revisions be made to make the work technically sound?  
Probably - with minor revisions  
 
PEER REVIEWER COMMENTS:  
GENERAL COMMENTS: The study assessed the prevalence and determinants of anemia 
among adolescent girls in Ethiopia.  It provides the latest prevalence data in the country. It is a 
well-conducted study. However, the conclusion and recommendation need to be revised. It is not 
confirmed that anemia is due to iron deficiency based on the study.  
 
REQUESTED REVISIONS:  
There  is more to be done regarding the association between dietary intake and anemia.  It is not 
clear why the authors chose to only use a couple of food items in the multivariable logistic 
regression model. Why did they not use the association between dietary diversity score and 
anemia? I cannot find Figure 1. The information on the reference group in the logistic regression 
is confusing. The abstract needs to be revised to make it clear that what the reference groups in 
the logistic regression are. For example , it is wrong to say that milk consumption had an OR of 
3.95.  
 
ADDITIONAL REQUESTS/SUGGESTIONS:  
The conclusion needs to be revised. Based on the study, it cannot be assumed that anemia is due 
to iron deficiency.  
Note: This reviewer report can be downloade d - see attached pdf file.  
Are the methods appropriate and well descri bed?  
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.  
 
No 
 
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 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 interes ts 
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following 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 publ ication 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 current ly 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 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 det ails 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 onl ine 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 review 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 confidential comments 
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal