Title: Induced Abortions among Chinese Adolescent Girls
Version: 1 Date: 24 Aug 2023
Reviewer's report:
The manuscript by Dr. Wang and coworkers used survey data to assess the trend and
characteristics of induced abortions among Chinese adolescent girls and identify the factors
associated with induced abortion. Although the results were achieved, there are several major
and minor flaws in this study.
1. Page 2, lines 26#27: In the Conclusions of Abstract section, In the Conclusions of Abstract
section, the conclusion (i.e., the characteristics of adolescent induced abortions) is too general
and simplistic. These differences for each factor need to be clarified and add information in the
text.
2. In the Introduction section, according to the authors’ previous study in 2022 (Ref no. 17), it
has been used the 2017 China Fertility Survey to provide the information on induced abortion
rate, proportion of induced abortions, age-specific cumulative proportion of induced abortion
for a cohort, and age-specific cumulative number of induced abortions per woman. However,
the authors should specify your knowledge gaps in this study and explain more detail between
the two studies. Please clarify and add information in the text.
3. In the Data and Method section, (1) Page 6, lines 93-108: the contents of this section were
merged into a part of the Method section. (2) Lines 97-98: How many total cases were involved,
how many cases were excluded from both face-to-face interviews and online survey by these
exclusion criteria, respectively? Please clarify and add information in the text. (3) Lines 112-115:
I don't understand why the classification has been determined as the later and earlier birth cohort.
Are there any references that can be cited for this point? (4) in the Statistical analysis section,
the authors have to add and clarify more detail which statistical methods (i.e., trend test for the
proportion/rate) were used in the text.
4. In the Results section, (1) line 147: “…. and there was a downward trend after 2006.”
However, we see an upward shift from 2008 to 2010. Please modify it in the text. (2) Although
the figures are plentiful and adequate, the accompanying tables should be supplied that may be
helpful for other researchers and readers to understand.
5. In the limitation of Discussion section, lines 376#379: these results may generalize only to
some regions of China. However, the China’s family planning policy may influence women’s
induced abortion patterns. Different induced abortion patterns and determinants among Chinese
adolescent girls can make the results less generalizable to other regions and countries. Please
make clear about the limitation of the study in the text.
6. Page 19, lines 385#386: the conclusion is too general and simplistic (i.e., the characteristics of
adolescent induced abortions). These differences for factors including age, residence, ethnicity,
and education level need to be summarized and rewritten. Please clarify and modify this more
detail in the text.
7. The ‘citation formatting’ of several references (Ref. 4, 8, 12, 14, 15, 18, 21#25, 32, 41) is
inaccuracy and inconsistent, for example the authors’ list, article title, Journal name, etc.. Please
modify reference formatting according to the Information for formatting guidelines.
Minor:
1. Page 3, line 46: In the Keywords of Abstract section, please change the keyword "adolescent"
to "adolescent girls" according to the main subjects of studying.
2. In Figure 3, lines 563#564: The notes on the figure make it clear.
3. In Figure 5, lines 587#588: The notes on the figure make it clear.