Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title:  One in five women suffer from pelvic floor disorders in Kersa district Eastern Ethiopia: A 
community -based study  
 
Version: 1 Date: 29 Mar 2018 
 
Reviewer:  Xavier  Fritel  
 
Reviewer’s report:  
 
A nice paper about pelvic floor disorders prevalence in Ethiopia. Some issue need to be 
addressed.  
 
Reference #19 could not be found  
 
You can use this reference about  no seek for care even with severe symptoms: Fritel X, Panjo H, 
Varnoux N, Ringa V. The individual determinants of care -seeking among middle -aged women 
reporting urinary incontinence: Analysis of a 2273 -woman cohort. Neurourol Urodyn 
2014;33:1116 -22. doi: 10.1002/nau.22461  
 
Could you explain why you drew 24 out of 38 administrative units. How is it possible to 
determine the exact number of inhabitants and the number of women of childbearing age in these 
administrative units?  
 
How can you say that all married women have been included? Does this mean that all residents 
must declare their presence? Inevitably women will be missing.  
 
How was the status of married woman established? Why did you choose only married women? 
Why did you choose the number of 3344 for th e sample?  
 
A response rate of 99% is incredible, what explain a so high response rate?  
 
Do the questionnaire was able to identify fistula?  
 
Page 9, I am afraid that "pelvic nerve and anal sphincter injuries" are not risk factors for "urinary 
incontinence".  
 
I am afraid that race differences are not supported by a scientific definition of race and strong 
evidence. Contrary to what is stated on page 9, Obioha's article [reference # 31] did not refer to 
skin color and did not study the closing pressure or contrac tion of the pelvic floor. These 
sentences need to be deleted.  
 
Table 4, what means "OAB1"?  
 
Are the methods appropriat e 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.  
 
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 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.  
 
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 o r lose financially from the publication of this 
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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 r eply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
None  
 
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