Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Vision -Related Quality of Life and Psychologic al Status in Chinese Women with 
Sjogren's  Syndrome Dry Eye: A Case -Control Study  
 
Version: 2 Date: 11 Jul 2016  
 
Reviewer: Jill Carlton  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
Thank you for the opportunity to review the amended manuscript.  
 
 
 
In response to the amendments regarding response burden of the questionnaire comple tion, and 
order effects of questionnaires.  I feel it should be acknowledged that although sufficient time 
was given for participants to complete the questionnaires, they were still asked to answer over 70 
questions (following full ocular examination).  Th ere could be some doubt on reliability of 
responses by participants (particularly towards the end of the questionnaires... how can you be 
sure people were "ticking" correctly, and not just answering in any way in order to finish???  The 
fact you administer ed questionnaires in the same order for all participants could introduce some 
bias.  You may wish to look at your dataset and examine whether scores were always 
better/worse towards the end, which may indicate some participant fatigue.  This is not 
somethi ng that should necessarily be described in the manuscript, but for future work you may 
wish to consider randomising the order of questionnaires.. or limiting the number of 
questionnaires used in the study itself.  70 questions is excessive.  
 
 
 
I wonder if fo llowing your study you are able to make a recommendation to clinicians (based 
upon your results) as to which questionnaire ought to be used routinely in the assessment of QoL 
in these patients?   
 
 
 
Finally, there are one or two sentences which could be impr oved with minor changes.... for 
example line 311 "found to have severer appearance of..."   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
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 req uire 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 fol lowing 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 publication of this  
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2. Do you hold an y 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 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 co mpeting 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 declare that I have no competing interests' below  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal. I understand that my name will be included  
on my report to the authors and, if the manuscript is accepted for publication, my named report  
including any attachments I upload will be posted on the website along  with the authors'  
responses. I agree for my report to be made available under a n Open Access Creative Commons  
CC-BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ). I understand that any comments  
which I do not wish to be included in my named report  can be included as confidential comments  
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal