Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Economic burden of symptomatic iron deficiency - A Survey among Swiss women  
 
Version: 2 Date: 21 May 2018  
 
Reviewer: Sucheta Mehra  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
This appears to be an interesting paper and contributes to the literature, elegantly worked out and 
written. Ther e are few issues that need explanation and elucidation, which would strengthen the 
paper  
 
1. Line 47 - the sentence is a little extreme, there are various nutrients, the deficiency of which is 
virtually ubiquitous, zinc being an example. Authors should soft en the sentence.  
 
2. Line 54 - the burden on individuals beyond cost of IV therapy should be a consideration, and 
expounded upon.  
 
3. The background would be strengthened with information on the situation in Switzerland - a 
description of the language representation, the age breakdown and the prevalence of iron 
deficiency based on other studies.  
 
4. Methods - despite much being made o f the population -weighting of the dataset, there is no 
description of the expected distribution versus the distribution of the women in the study. 
The appropriateness of the method is difficult without this. Information on the screening 
process would be us eful - were women simply asked if they received an ID diagnosis, was 
there more to the process?  
 
5. Line 91 - why is no IRB permission needed for this sort of data collection? If identifiers were 
not collected, this needs to be stated clearly.  
 
6. Line 101 - the whole paragraph describes Spearmen's correlation, but the data presented in 
the tables does not show any correlational information. This paragraph does not add any 
value to the paper.  
 
7. Line 128 - It would be useful to describe the approach, consid ering the paper being referred 
to is not in English.  
 
8. Line 152 and table 1 - age categories would be useful to show.  
 
9. Line 271 - It is also assumed that women who have ID seek treatment for it, this should also 
be elucidated, not merely assumed that all patients be treated.  
 
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 assess  
 
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 manus cript 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 manuscri pt: 
 
Needs some language corrections before being published  
 
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, fees, 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 no w 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 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 details below.  
 
I declare that I have no competing interests  
 
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