Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Nocturnal finger skin temperature in menstrual cycle trackin g: Ambulatory pilot study 
using a wearable Oura ring  
 
Version: 1 Date: 06 Aug 2019  
 
Reviewer: Reviewer 2  
 
Reviewer's report:  
PEER REVIEWER ASSESSMENTS:  
 
OBJECTIVE - Full research articles: is there a clear objective that addresses one or several 
testable research questions? (Brief or other article types: is there a clear objective?)  
Yes - there is a clear objective  
 
DESIGN - Is the current approach (including controls and analysis protocols) appropriate for the 
objective?  
No - there are major issues  
 
EXECUTION - Are the experiments and analyses performed with sufficient technical rigor to 
allow confidence in the results?  
No - there are major issues  
 
STATISTICS - Is the use of statistics in the manuscript appropriate?  
Yes - appropriate statistical analyses have been used in the study  
 
INTERPRETATION - Is the current interpretation/discussion  of the results reasonable and not 
overstated?  
No - there are major issues  
 
OVERALL MANUSCRIPT POTENTIAL - Has the author addressed your concerns sufficiently 
for you to now recommend the work as a technically sound contribution? If not, can further 
revisi ons be made to make the work technically sound?  
No - manuscript has some fundamental flaw(s)  
 
PEER REVIEWER COMMENTS:  
 
GENERAL COMMENTS: I am very sorry to acknowledge that all the points that I have 
highlighted were addressed, but the severe limitations of the study still represent a barrier which 
prevents me to suggest publication in the current form.  
 
REQUESTED REVISIONS:  
I can understand that this is only a pilot study, as appropriately stated by the authors, but I am 
actually concerned that data analysis based on such low sample size does not allow to draw a 
firm conclusion about the primary and secondary outcomes of the study design.  
As I noticed from the new manuscript draft, my concerns were shared also by other reviewers.  
I would like to invite authors to use selective inclusion/exclusion criteria (extremely low/high 
BMI, age and other variables such as concurrent phar macological treatments and/or diseases), 
include more women, and perform another data analysis before to re -submit the article for peer 
review.  
 
 
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
No 
 
Does the work include the necessary  controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
No 
 
 
 
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 stat istics 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 manuscript:  
 
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 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 recei ved 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 competin g interests' 
below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
This reviewer has been recruited by a partner organization, Research Square. Reviewers with 
declared or apparent competing interests are not utilized for t hese reviews. This reviewer has 
agreed to publication of their comments online under a Creat ive 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 re gardless of the  reviewer  
recommendation.  
 
 
 
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 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 included as confidential comments 
to the editor s, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal