Reviewer’s report  
 
Title: Supporting women of childbearing age in the prevention and treatment of overweight and 
obesity: A scoping review of randomized control trials of behavioral interventions  
 
Version: 1 Date: 11 Aug 2019  
 
Reviewer: Ann Gibson  
 
Reviewer's report:  
General comments to the authors:  
What a pleasure if has been t o read such a well -written manuscript!  You have a good mix of 
historical and current references and a few nicely presented graphics to summarize your text.  
 
Specific comments to the authors:  
Line 71 (or list of Abbreviations and Table 1) - please indicat e if it was the generic Euro -
Caucasian BMI cutpoints  that were the used for the determinations of BMI inclusion categories 
as there are some newer race -specific BMI cutpoints that differ from Euro -Caucasian ones.  Did 
any of your cited studies include an estimation of %body fat for pre -pregnancy or early 
pregnancy women?  There may be reproductive and intergenerational health issues associated 
with a normal weight but overfat mother.  Additionally, women who are in the "too lean" 
category (can be found amo ng any of the BMI categories), have their own health risks that may 
be imparted to a fetus.  
 
Line 138 - should read "Data were"  
 
Line 276 - please identify the recommended ranges here.  
 
Line 305 - including a parenthetical range of r -values after "strong predictor" would be a nice 
addition.  
 
Line 307 - please provide a comparator for the "10% lower pre -pregnancy BMI" - i.e. lower 
compared to what?......current BMI?  Some cutpoint category  of BMI?  
 
Line 337 - in your recommendations for future/additional research, including BMI status of the 
woman's healthcare provider would be interesting in terms as to how it affects her adherence to 
any "lose weight" recommendation they make.  There is l iterature indicating that 
overweight/obese pediatricians are not as effective as are more fit pediatricians in changing 
parental/offspring weight goals.  i.e. the healthcare professional needs to model the message.  
 
Line 351 -353 - Great point!  Perhaps ano ther recommendation for future/additional research 
would include following behavior modification literature that has shown specific methods as 
being effective in reaching specific racial/ethnic audiences (i.e. faith -based groups for blacks; 
family -focused for Hispanics; mass -media for low SES)  
 
Line 350 - change "mums" to "mothers"  
 
Reference section - check to be sure all journal guidelines for citation are followed.  There 
appear to be some inconsistencies with use of capitalization in article titles, pag e ranges, full 
publication information, urls for open access articles, spacing within hyphenated terms, etc.  At a 
minimum, see references 9, 12, 13, 14, 21, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 35, 38, 45, 54, 59, 60, 70, 85, 89, 
94, 107, 114, 134, 141, 142, 144, 145.  
 
Figure 3 - rotate X -axis labels as in Figure 2.   
 
 
 
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 manus cript or would you recommend an 
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please speci fy what aspects require 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 manu script:  
 
Acceptable  
 
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, f unding, or salary from an 
organisation that may in any way gain or lose financial ly from the publication of this 
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2. Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation t hat may in any way gain or lose 
financially fr om 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 t hat 
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 co mpeting interests' 
below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
I declare that I have no competing interests  
 
 
 
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