Title: Socio-demographic predictors of obesity among women in Mukono Central Division in
Central Uganda: A cross-sectional study
Version: 4 Date: 14 May 2023
Reviewer's report:
Review Report
Title page
Socio-demographic predictors of obesity among women in Mukono Central Division in Central
Uganda: A cross-sectional study
Background
• Line 94 – In the paragraph, the use of while and on the contrary is not right. These two mean
the same thing, I suggest that the authors use one.
• Line 51 is repeated in line 11. The authors may need to use other words for one of the
paragraphs.
Methods
• It is not quite clear why the authors chose 18-59 year old women. A reason for this choice
would be good for the reader.
• In line 134, is it mukono in particular that was observed in previous surveys to have a
high obesity level or the central Buganda region? I’m aware that surveys, though nationally
representative do not report on district measures. I think this statement is not right, or the authors
need to include more information on exactly what the basis of their choice is? Something like
‘Mukono is one of the districts in the region that has the highest obesity levels …..”
• How were households without women replaced?
I presume some women did not consent to be part of the study, how were these replaced.
The authors should give more details on replacement.
• Line 173 - How was the height of the respondent measured?
• Though marital status categorization is based on literature, it would be interesting to find out
if obesity levels for differ for currently married and formerly married in Uganda.
• Line 190- The authors are advised to categorize age as “less than 30” and “30 or more”. This
makes categories easier for any reader to follow.
Relatedly, the categorization in Table 2 leaves women aged 30 years out of the sample.  Where
were they placed? Remember you only have <30 years and Over 30years. Kindly revised this
• Line 226, 257 Instead of “chi square tests”, the authors may use “chi squared tests”
Results
• In Table 5, I think results would be clearer if you indicated the referebce category for each of
the variables included in the model.
• Is it possible that the study included majorly women who work in or near their homes? If it
is true that most of these were doing tailoring, I may have questions on the sample. This could
have been due to the fact that if these women were interviewed during the day, many may have
already left for work and only return in the night.  I want to think that if you interviewed women
who commute from Mukono to Kampala/ the neighbouring Wakiso districts for work, results
may be totally different.
Discussion
• Line 284 – Did you mean socio-economic inequalities as opposed to equalities
• Line 287 – The first paragraph does not read well due to repetition of the word found, the
authors are advised to use other words
• Line 294 – I have serious concerns about referencing UK studies on obesity. The authors may
be aware that lifestyles in the UK and Uganda totally differ. Whereas in Uganda, unemployment
may lead lead to food security concerns leading to malnutrition, for UK unemployment may
lead to higher intake of junk foods which may lead to obesity. I advise that the authors make an
effort to find African literature or literature from other developing countries elsewhere.
Conclusion
• In line 309 – was predicted by. Add by to the sentence
• Line 323 – you is misplaced in this sentence