Title: Investigation of the relationship between breast cancer and clinical symptoms of
polycystic ovarian syndrome: a case-control study
Version: 1 Date: 31 Jul 2024
Reviewer:  Bita Eslami
Reviewer's report:
My Comments:
The topic of this research is interesting and has the necessary innovation for a scientific article.
However, there are some mistakes in the manuscript as below:
Abstract:
The abstract is concise, informative, and well-written.
In the result section, the last sentence, the OR for hirsutism was written by mistake as: 188.2,
please correct it.
Keywords: based on "Mesh-Term", you should change: "endocrine disorder" to "endocrine
disease". Furthermore, you can add "ovarian disease" to the keywords list.
Introduction:
Line 6, here is the first time you wrote polycystic ovarian syndrome. Here, it should write the
abbreviation "PCOS" used in the manuscript. In the other parts of the manuscript, it is better
to use an abbreviation and it doesn't need to write again "polycystic ovarian syndrome", such
as line 10.
Line 14, Since the SHGB word appears for the first time in the text, write it completely before
the abbreviation "Sex Hormone-Binding Globin".
Line, 32, high BMI, First, you have to start the sentence with the capital letter "High" and second,
the BMI word is presented for the first time, so you should write "body mass index (BMI)".
Line 33, Please write "high BMI" instead of "High BMI". Here is in the middle of a sentence.
Please pay attention to using the small and capital letters in the appropriate locations. Such as
"Methods", "Study design,…",…
Methods:
In the section "Sample and…" it is better to write "Study population or participants" instead of
"sample". The first sentence of this part doesn't need to be written again "Case-control study".
Please ensure to specify the department from which the control group was collected. Only
providing the number of controls in each hospital is insufficient.
I recommend using the "data collection method" instead of the "measurement instrument".
In "Validity and Reliability", the second line what is the" rst??".
There is no need to write the sample size formula in the article.
Statistical method and logistic regression should be written, clearly. Which variables were
entered into the model and based on what strategy?
Results:
In all tables, change the "/" mark to "."
About Table 3 and Rotterdam criteria, I think some of the symptoms may be related to cancer
treatment such as chemotherapy. Therefore, the authors should mention it in the discussion part
or you should write clearly about the cases included in this study. Had they started any cancer
treatment, at the time of participating in this study? Or had they been included in this study at
the time of diagnosis of the disease and before starting any treatment?
As Table 5 shows, in logistic regression analysis, the authors entered both PCOS in ultrasound
and PCOS history in the model. I think these two variables are related.  Please consult with a
Statistics specialist. Meanwhile, please use the word p-valve in this table as in other tables.
Discussion:
The first sentence of the discussion should be revised. "This study was conducted to determine
the relationship between breast cancer and PCOS as well as the clinical symptoms of this
disease."
In the limitation section, it is better to mention that information on the type of breast cancer
was not collected.
In my opinion, this article is good and worth publishing, however, it needs some corrections,
especially a detailed description of the control group and the final statistical analysis needs to
be revised.