Reviewer ’s report  
Title: The Women's Heart Health Programme: A Pilot Trial Of Sex -Specifi c Cardiovascular 
Management  
 
Version: 1 Date: 03 Jan 2018  
 
Reviewer: Tracy Madsen  
 
Reviewer's report:  
Thank you for your revisions and responses to previous comments. There are still, however, 
major revisions needed. When responding please give page numbers/li ne numbers and/or cut and 
paste change text into document so it is clear what has been changed.  
 
1) Overall needs extensive editing to make writing more clear and grammatically correct. For 
example - sentences still start with numbers (see abstract). Do not  jump back and forth 
between past and present tense, there are problems with subject -verb disagreement 
throughout intro.  Maybe consider professional editing for grammar etc? Commonest is not 
a word - should be most common  
2) Introduction needs extensive ed iting to make writing more clear - esp parapraph about sex 
differences in CV disease/ paragraph starting with sexual dimorphism.  
3) Do not jump back and forth between using sex and gender - which do you mean? sex or 
gender? be consistent - sex is biologic con struct, gender is social construct.  
3) In last line of introduction - what outcomes are you referring to? specify.  
4) how many patients were actually in study? it sounds like 100 but then you say 32 declined? 
Give final number of participants.  
5) In result s specify which groups you are comparing (demographics similar between 
intervention and control group?)  
6) Paragraph about blinding should be in methods not discussion. I would not use the term 
open blinded end -point -- just describe it and stop there (thi s term is confusing)  
7) For results, it is not clear how much the risk factors (i.e. HbA1c) changed within each 
group -- you are reporting the difference in control vs intervention but you should also 
report how much they changed within each group - i.e. wh at are the absolute differences  
8) Discussion needs to be further re -organized. -- it should start with review of most important 
findings -- it takes 4 -5 paragraphs for you to summarize main findings, then you can discuss 
other topics, reasons for findings and implications (i.e. why you think IHD was 
underestimated? - though not sure what this paragraph adds)  
9) Discussion: you shouldn't be repeating results in the discussion - you already have these in 
results - should discuss your findings at a broader level and implications of findings.  
10) rate of patients not coming to appts should be in results not discussion - you can list as 
limitation in discussion  
11) Table 4 need % for all n  
 
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 comme nts to the authors.  
Yes 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
No 
Are you able to assess any st atistics 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:  
Not suitable for publication unless extensively edited  
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 or lose financially from the publication of this 
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
2. Do you ho ld any 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 
manus cript?  
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.  
 
I declare that I have no competing interests.  
 
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 an 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