Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Is caregiving by Baby Boomer women related to the pre sence of depressive symptoms?  
Evidence from eight national surveys  
 
Version: 0 Date: 06 May 2018  
 
Reviewer: Samantha Loi  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
Please include all comments for the authors in this box rather than uploading your report as an 
attachment. Please only upload as attachments annotated versions of manuscripts, graphs, 
supporting materials or other aspects of your report which cannot be in cluded in a text format  
 
This submission reports on an amalgamation of 7 large population studies taken from a few 
different parts of Asia and Europe.  The sample size is large, over 16000.  
Like other papers which put together, the surveys use different m easures.  The biggest issue is 
the definition of 'careiving". The authors acknowledge that in CHARLS, instrumental caring is 
used as a proxy for personal care and also it could be a variety of family members or friends one 
is caring for.   I think this is a great assumption and might skew some of the analysis and thus 
results.  I would expect the general trend of results to be similar, but if this survey was omitted i 
wonder what the statistical significance would be.   
 
A few grammatical errors, eg p 19, l ine 34 "marital status, another factorS" - should be singular.  
Also on p 19, the authors write "an interesting case in the People's Republic of China..." but do 
not seem to complete this paragraph in how it relates to this study and/or caring.  
 
 
 
Are the metho ds 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.  
 
No 
 
Are the con clusions 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 am able to assess the statistics  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Needs some language corrections before being published  
 
Declaration of competing interests  
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