Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title:  Why women  choose compounded bioidentical hormone therapy: Lessons from a 
qualitative study of menopausal decision -making  
 
Version: 0 Date: 05 Jun 2017 
 
Reviewer:  Louisa  Velentzis  
 
Reviewer’s report:  
 
Please include all comments for the authors in this box rather than uploading yo ur report as an 
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This is a detailed and comprehensive account and analy sis of beliefs and motivations of current 
and ex -users of compounded bioidentical hormone therapy users. This area of research is still in 
its infancy and studies like these are necessary for shedding more light on what drives a number 
of women to use CBHT , despite a fairly united and opposing front from clinicians and regulatory 
or other bodies, based on safety concerns.  
 
 
I have some minor corrections/suggestions as listed below:  
 
1. Although I realise this is a qualitative piece of research, due to the sm all number of 
participants, it would be informative to provide a summary table that listed for each participant 
the following information, if available: age, current or past CBHT user, occupation, duration of 
use of CBHT, type of CBHT used, who prescribed them the CBHT, whether the participant was 
a past user of conventional HT, past user of herbal supplements and for past users of CBHT the 
reason for stopping. The authors could include any additional details they have which they think 
are relevant.  
 
2. Ther e is inconsistent characterisation of participants throughout the manuscript. First name, 
age and occupation I believe suffice. Readers could easily refer to the table for further 
information.  
 
3. Controls: strictly speaking including controls in this study  would have meant interviewing 
women who had never used CBHT. However, since the aim of the study was to characterise the 
motivations of CBHT use, I understand why the authors did not include these women. It would 
have been interesting however, to compare the views of women in the larger ethnographic study 
on some comparable topics, e.g. their clinical experience.  
 
4. I wonder whether the authors asked women about their sources of information on CBHT. 
Although this is mentioned on a couple of occasions, it  would be informative to present that 
information for all women, if available, maybe in the summary table or elsewhere.  
 
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.  
 
No 
 
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.  
 
Not relevant to this manuscript  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Acceptable  
 
Declaration of competing interests  
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