Title: Decomposing the rural-urban disparities in overweight and obesity among women of
reproductive age in Nigeria
Version: 1 Date: 27 Sep 2023
Reviewer's report:
This study assesses the prevalence and factors associated with overweight and obesity among
reproductive-aged women in Nigeria, focusing on differences between rural and urban areas in
the country. This subject is essential for me, especially given the adverse impact of obesity on
human health generally. Overall, the study appeared to be very well designed, and the analysis
have been rigorously conducted. The major comment I have relates to the need for authors to
carry out critical proofreading of the manuscript to correct grammatical errors throughout the
manuscript, including incomplete sentences, grammatical expressions that are not clear, missing
words, punctuations, etc. Authors did not include line numbers in their manuscript, so it is
difficult to make specific references to some of the sentences that need improved clarity.
Here are some specific comments which may contribute to improving the quality of this study.
- In the first four lines of the abstract section, 'this study' is probably missing.
- In the results section of the abstract, 'findings show' needs to be corrected.
- In the introduction section, authors need to add a reference to the second sentence ending with
'…past three decades'.
- 'Only a few or no studies have examined the predictors of the disparity in overweight and
obesity among women of reproductive age'; authors need to be specific here. If there are studies,
cite them appropriately; if there are none, state so clearly.
- 'the study examines the sociodemographic factors associated with overweight and obesity
and the determinants'. This is not clear. How did authors define 'factors associated' and
'determinants…'. These are sometimes incorrectly used interchangeably; however, determinants
give a sense of causation, which is not within the scope of this study. Besides, the sentence is
complicated and not straightforward. Authors need to make corrections
- 'The outcome of this study will not only help in developing comprehensive health policies
targeting the prevention of morbidity and mortality associated with overweight and obesity
among women of reproductive age in Nigeria but will also increase women's overall health
and productivity'. How? How will this study increase women's…? Authors need to reword the
sentence.
- Authors noted their study was restricted to 13 339 women out of the total 41821 interviewed.
Presumably, the remaining data were due to missing information. How representative is this
sample? How can the substantial reduction in the sample affect the conclusion of this study?
- Is there any reference for the BMI classification used in this study?
- Authors merge data for overweight and obesity to create a single outcome variable. Any
justification for this? Could overweight and obesity have been assessed separately?
- How were the explanatory variables selected, that is, were they based on previous literature,
etc.?
- Authors stated that they used 'multivariate logistic regression' for their analysis. Multivariate
suggests many outcome variables. It would appear that multivariable (one outcome variable and
several independent factors) logistic regression analysis was done in this study (based on the
other sections of this study). If multivariate logistic regression analysis was done, authors need
to clarify and provide additional information on how this was conducted.
- 'identifying the major determinants of overweight and obesity', again, using 'determinants' will
not be appropriate here. Simply state' factors associated with'.
- In the discussion section, the association with higher education can be due to a sedentary
lifestyle or the nature of work of the highly educated, which will most likely be less physically
involving, unlike in people with lower educational attainment.
- Again, authors need to critically read through this manuscript, line by line and correct minor
grammatical mistakes.