Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Risk Factors of Induced Abortion among Preparatory School Female Students, Guraghe 
Zone, Southern Region, Ethiopia: Cross -Sectional Study  
 
Version : 2 Date: 10 Sep 2018  
 
Reviewer: Reviewer 2  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
PEER REVIEWER COMMENTS: To view the full report from the academic peer reviewer, 
please see the attached file.  
 
REVIEWER COMMENTS FROM REPORT: Over all the study can be classified as average. 
There is nothing that c an be classed as outstandingly well done. The discussion can be more 
oriented towards what actions can be taken to mitigate the risks of abortion based on the study 
findings.  
 
REQUESTED REVISIONS:  
The sampling design described is systematic sampling. If the list was made by institution the 
procedure used may have resulted in  the selection of a number of individuals proportional to the 
number in that unit.  
 
As the authors acknowledge, a qualitative component would have enriched the study especially 
using  a methodology such as "developing a story line" described by WHO as a method of 
eliciting sensitive information.  
 
The study sought very sensitive information collected in the school setting. Under methodology 
it is good to state the steps taken to ensure  the confidentiality of data from school authorities as 
well as other students because this would influence the answers given by individuals.    
 
In the study findings a "magnitude" of the problem is presented. It is not clear what it means. It 
has to be p resented as a prevalence or incidence, give a time period and be clear as  to whether it 
is the number of episodes of  abortion or the number of persons having abortions.  
 
It is very important to provide confidence limits to the estimates. This is doubly so since the 
estimated prevalence of abortion in the population studied is less than the figure used in the 
calculation of sample size.   
 
The classification used for consumption of alcohol has to be made clear. Define what is means 
by  "often drink alcohol" and "sometimes consume".  
 
As a description of this population it may be interesting to present briefly how prevalent alcohol 
consumption  is and how sexually active this population is, the later if information is available.  
 
Parent residence being rural, being a rural resident, not having sexual health education, and being 
an alcohol consumer were found to be risk factors for abortion. It  is very likely that some of 
these factors have interaction effects and it would be good to examine these in the regression 
analysis.  
 
The discussion could address issues such as special mentoring within the school system for 
children living away from par ental supervision, and reproductive health information / education 
at entry in to preparatory school if this is deficient in the pre -preparatory classes / institutions.  
 
The authors assume that the readers know the Gurage zone and the Adwa high school. If  the 
article is for consumption out side the country it may be good to give a brief description in the 
background.  
ADDITIONAL REQUESTS/SUGGESTIONS:  
Major language corrections are needed.  
It would be good if interactions can be tested in the logistic reg ression model.  
As presented earlier, the discussion  could include possible areas for action.  
 
Pg 2, Lines 9 -10 'increasing from time to time.' Is it increasing over time?  
" Line 19: 'in the zone' Is this the educational zone? Where is the zone?  
Line 23:  'Descriptive statistics, binary screening…' Do the authors mean binary analysis?  
Line 29: 'magnitude of induced abortion' Not clear what the authors mean by 'magnitude.' Is it 
prevalence? Lifetime? Is is better to say 'lifetime prevalence, ever had an abo rtion/ over the past 
year?  
Line 42: 'alcohol were 3.3 time' How common is alcohol use?  
Page 3 line 24: 'unwanted' The term unwanted stigmatizes the child of such a pregnancy and it is 
better to use the term unplanned.  
Lines 26 -27: The authors should add th e percentage within parenthesis.  
Line 47: Access to service' Do the authors mean reproductive health service?  
Page 6, Line 44: 'among female youngsters was 55….  
Page 7, Lines 11 -17, 'the demand for induced abortion.' The sentence is awkward and needs to be  
rewritten for clarity.  
Line 26: It is not clear what the authors mean by 'living relationship.'  
Lines 28 -29 It is not clear what the authors mean by 'agreement on abortion.'  
Line 46: Please clarify what you mean by 'often consume' and sometimes consume' alcohol?  
Page 8, Lines 5 -7: It may be good to break this into two sentences or reword it.  
Line 7: 'Guraghe zone facilities' Do the authors mean health facilities? Please clarify.  
Line: 19: How does Adwa high school compare with the present sample?  
Lines 27 -30: It is not clear what this sentence means. It might be better to break it into two 
sentences.  
Page 10, first paragraph: An examination of interaction effects in the logistics model would be 
interesting.  
 
 
 
 
 
Are the met hods 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 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 speci fy 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:  
 
Need s 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 sa lary 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 public ation of this manuscript, either now 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.  
 
This reviewer has been recruited by a partner organization, Research Square. Reviewers with 
declared or apparent competing interests are not utilized for these reviews. This reviewer has 
agreed to publicati on of their comments online under a Creative Commons Attribution License 
attributed to Research Square and was paid a small honorarium for completing the review within 
a specified timeframe. Honoraria for reviews such as this are paid regardless of the rev iewer 
recommendation.  
 
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