PONE-D-21-00759

Pharmacological blood pressure control and outcomes in patients with hypertensive crisis discharged from the emergency department

PLOS ONE

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Amjad Khan, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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5. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: This is an interesting study which evaluates the pharmacological control of BP in terms of short- and long-term outcomes among the patients with hypertensive crises.

Overall, this is clear, concise and well-written manuscript. The authors make a systematic contribution to the research literature in this area of investigation. The introduction is relevant and theoretical in context of manuscript. Some important points have to be clarified by authors.

1. In introduction the reference indicating the prevalence of hypertensive crises in Taiwan is missing.

2. The manuscript has not discussed the proportion of hypertensive urgency and hypertensive emergencies in results separately.

3. Examination of end organ damage in addition to the mentioned diagnosis, acute pulmonary edema, and dissecting aneurysm should also be considered.

4. Table 02 at page no. 12 results should be expressed in percentages.

Few sentences from the following relevant articles can be added in Introduction or Discussion part for the improvement of the paper. Though these papers are giving information on management of hypertension in hemodialysis patients but still it can be related with control of BP in general population:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40545-019-0169-y

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11845-018-1813-2

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40267-020-00763-5

Reviewer #2: Thank you for providing opportunity to review the draft. This is a good study and addressed important issue in ED. However, this study has few shortcomings which should be addressed before considering the draft for further processing.

1. Since substantial proportion of data is missing in the analysis, authors need to explain its impact on analysis in study limitations.

2. Authors should explain the graph and predictive model analysis in details.

3. Results may be confounded by lifestyle, compliance, dietary habits, use of alternative medicines and patient`s adherence to recommendations. How authors will nullify the impact of these confounders from the analysis?

4. I will suggest to improve the writing of manuscript. Though manuscript lack serious syntax errors but has less essence of scientific writing.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Pharmacological blood pressure control and outcomes in patients with hypertensive crisis discharged from the emergency department

PONE-D-21-00759R1

Dear Dr. Kuo,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Amjad Khan, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

All the queries and suggestions raised by the reviewers have been addressed and incorporated by the authors.

Reviewers' comments: