Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Barriers to seeking consultation for abnormal uterine bleeding: systematic review of  
qualitative research.  
 
Version: 2 Date: 01 May 2020  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
Thank you for the opportunity of reading and reviewing this study. I only have some major 
issues below.  
 
Abstract  
- Please remove these sentences "Up to a third of all wome n worldwide experience AUB, yet 
majority do not receive adequate support. AUB can have a significant effect on quality of life 
and in post -menopausal women, is the most common symptom of endometrial cancer." These 
sentences aren't related to the results.  
 
Background  
- The manuscript must be revised based on the guidelines outlined in the 'Instructions for  
Authors.  
- The objective of this study was to identify barriers and facilitators to seeking appropriate care. 
However, the barriers only have been report ed in the results section of abstract and main text.  
 
Methods  
- Why only qualitative studies using semi structured interviews were considered as inclusion 
criteria. Unstructured interviews are also used in qualitative studies.  
 
Results  
- The results of asse ssing the quality of each included study based on the CASP must be reported 
in the results section.   
- The characteristics of included studies must be reported thoroughly in the Table 1 including 
participants, number of participants, methods of collecting  data (focus group or individual 
interview), method of data analysis and findings.  
 
Discussion  
- The discussion section is relatively immature. Please expand the discussion section.  
- Figure 1 should be created based on PRISMA flow diagram.  
- The figure leg end must be written in the manuscript.  
- Finally, I suggest the authors have their manuscript checked for the academic language by a 
professional editing service to correct the typos and mistakes.  
 
 
 
 
 
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
No 
 
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 adequ ately 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 recommend ed, 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:  
 
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 financially from the publi cation of this  
manuscript, either 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 curr ently 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 dec lare that I have no competing interests.  
 
Reviewer Publication Consent. I agree for my report to be made available under an Open 
Access  Creative Commons CC -BY License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 ) if this 
manuscript  is accepted for publication . Any comments that I do not wish to be included in the 
published  report have been included as confidential comments to the editor, which will not be 
published.  If you are not happy for us to publish this report, please contact the editorial office 
before c ompleting  the review.  If you wish, you can include your name in your published report. 
Please note you must  decide whether to include your name at the start of the process and confirm 
this decision whenever  prompted. If you change your decision later, we wi ll not be able to 
publish your name.  
 
I agree to the terms of the CC -BY 4.0 license; please do not publish my name with my report.  
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