Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders, Serious Mental Illness, and Delivery -Related 
Health  Outcomes, United States, 2006 -2015  
 
Version: 1 Date: 01 Apr 2020  
 
Reviewer: Tania Perich  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
Overall the paper is well done and the introduction was clear and well described.  
 
There are a few issues I recommended addressing prior to publication:  
 
Method - Please rephrase and remove the overuse of the word 'we' throughout to describe the 
methodolog y.  Eg. Line 85 first sentence 'A serial cross -sectional analysis using..." should be 
written instead of "We conducted a serial...:"    
I also have some concerns about the use of the NIS data as described in the method for those in 
the depression and anxie ty groups.  I think there should be slightly more description here about 
the dataset and how information was obtained. For example, it is unclear how the ICD mental 
health diagnoses were obtained within the sample.   
Table 1 - please redo this as the codes  and title are not clear.  Please change the title to indicate 
that these are the groups that you defined based on the ICD.  Also please have text examples of 
the codes.  I would add another column here of text to indicate the types of disorders here (eg. 
Anxiety then in the column next to it, Obsessive compulsive disorder, Acute stress etc).  The 
codes alone are not meaningful for the reader unless they are very familiar with ICD.    
Results - Please rephrase and remove the use of the word 'we' throughout.  
Discussion - The discussion mainly focuses on the increased prevalence of mental health 
conditions in the sample over time but does not talk as much about the rest of the findings.  I 
would remove the para from line 210 "Multiple factors…" as it gives too much detail on this 
aspect and I think this takes away from the rest of the discussion.   
Otherwise I think the paper is good and clearly described and these are the only changes I would 
recommend.  
 
 
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments t o the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
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 req uire 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, fees, funding, or salary from an  
organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this  
manuscript, eithe r now or in the future?  
 
2. Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that 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 r elating 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 inter ests?  
 
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.  
 
None  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal. I understand that my name will be included  
on my report to the authors and, if the manuscript is accepted for publication, my named report  
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which I do not wish to be included in my named report can be included as confidential comments  
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal