Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title:  Factors mediating the impacts of child abuse and intimate partner violence on chronic 
pain: A cross -sectional study  
 
Version: 0 Date: 28 Mar 2018 
 
Reviewer:  Carol  Orr 
 
Reviewer’s report:  
 
Abstract  
 
Does not contain child abuse in the method section.  
 
 
Background  
 
P5, L9: "The most common and detrimental forms of violence faced by women are… and child 
abuse". The term woman in this sentence seems out of place in regards to child abuse, perhap s 
females wold be a better fit.  
 
P6, L56: "Depression and PTSD are common…and child abuse among women". The term 
women here seems out of place in relation to child abuse, perhaps acknowledge it is historical 
child abuse.  
 
P8, L43: Introduces the term 'wi fe abuse' there is no justification provided for the use of this 
term. Terminology not consistent - uses IPV and wife abuse interchangeably.  
 
 
Method  
 
P10: Setting and sample section, described the sample used (n= 299) and then the numbers 
screened to obtain  the sample (n= 774). It may be clearer if the number of women screened were 
described first and then the steps taken to achieve the 299 sample size.  
 
P10, L7: Potential typographical: 'depressive symptoms model 1'. Should this read model 2?  
 
P10, L36: Is t he AAS a valid tool?  
 
P12, L7: What demographic information was collected?  
 
P12, L24: Minimum and maximum scores are not provided for the 5 -point Likert scale.  
 
P12: How is IPV severity measured? Is severity measured by score? What was threshold for 
deter mining severity?  
P12, L12: "…these Arabic measures were either validated previous research or in this study" A 
statement of both reliability and validity would be useful.  
 
P13, L34: In the severity of child abuse section why are there three subscales wit h neglect 
removed?  
 
P13: In PTSD symptoms how many items per symptom cluster?  
 
P13, L46: What does each point of the 5 -point severity scale indicate?  
 
P13: Are all subscale scores for each cluster of PTSD equally weighted?  
 
P14, L36: Chronic pain severity , noted pilot testing - no details of pilot test provided.  
 
P14, L41: Pain intensity scale described from 0 to 10, what does 0 or 10 mean?  
 
P14: Any measurement of why pain is being experienced e.g. physical injury?  
 
P14, L46: Disability days - was this info rmation used? If not perhaps leave out as there is a lot of 
information in the section.  
 
 
Analysis  
 
P17, L34: Typographical error 53SR - should this be 53,000SR?  
 
P17, L46: Hegarty's guideline is raised here - it has not been discussed earlier in the paper.  
 
P17, L53: The "¾ of women" statement may be better as a percentage.  
 
P18, L7: It is not clear where your figure 0.411 - 0.965 relates to in figure 2 and figure 3.  
 
P18, L24: Typographical error with "SRMR = 027."  
 
P19, L46: Comparing Model 1 and model 2: w rong symbol used for β  
 
P19, L39, & L41: It is not clear where the numbers β= 0.206 and β= 0.426 come from in relation 
to models  
 
 
Discussion  
 
P20, L34: The word mediated is in italics - unsure why.  
 
Pg.21  
P21, L14: "…results are consistent with evidence t hat child abuse… inflammatory response". 
This seems a little disjointed, inflammatory markers were not measured in this study.   
 
 
Demographics  
 
The variables are quite spread e.g. age 18 -64, duration of abuse <1 year - 45 years, has 
consideration been given  to this?  
 
The limitations acknowledge demographics and medical conditions not being included in the 
model. However, given the spread of the variables in the present research e.g. age 18 -64, 
duration of abuse <1 year - 45 years, a recommendation could be m ade for future research that 
includes demographics in the modelling.  
 
 
Tables  
 
Table 1  
 
Why is the cut -off score 3 for severity of abuse when the maximum in range was 127? The 
rationale for cut -off would be useful in the method section.  
 
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.  
 
Unable to ass ess 
 
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 specify 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  
 
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