PONE-D-21-13530

COVID-19 and cause of pregnancy loss during the pandemic: A systematic review

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Nasiri,

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ACADEMIC EDITOR:

Please revise according to reviewer's suggestion before forwarding to publication.

Thank you for your patience for long time.

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Kind regards,

Kazumichi Fujioka

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

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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: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: Dear Respectable Editor

Thank you to give me the opportunity to review the article entitled (COVID-19 and cause of pregnancy loss during the pandemic: A systematic review)

The study designed to understand better the potential effects of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on fetal loss in infected mothers presented with abortion following this infection.

The study concluded that there is an increased risk of abortion in mothers with a positive test result of SARS-CoV-2. Placental inflammation during the viral infection may result in fetal growth retardation and induce abortion. There has not been any consistent evidence of vertical transmission of the virus from mother to fetus, which requires further investigation.

Authors provided structured abstract and informative title

In the introduction, thy mentioned the controversy between studies regarding COVID-19 and explained why their study was designed (there is no systematic review reporting abortion in SARS-CoV-2 infected pregnant females).

In the methods section, they mentioned the search strategy, study selection, and data extraction and quality assessment.

Authors provided clear results, and a conclusion reflecting their results.

In addition, authors wrote the limitations of their study, future suggested research, and they used relevant references.

It my opinion its interesting study and can be accepted for publication without suggested changes from my side.

Regards

Reviewer #2: Dear authors,

I appreciate your efforts to work on COVID-19. The manuscript is well written. Suggestions to improve:

1) Please add more data to “Introduction” section.

2) Before using the abbreviation in main body of manuscript, please write it in full

3) Please choose the keywords from the MeSH database.

4) Please add more data to “Discussion” to describe your valuable work.

Best regards

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Ibrahim A. Abdelazim (Professor of OB/GYN Ain Shams University, Egypt)

Reviewer #2: Yes: Mohsen Heiday

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COVID-19 and cause of pregnancy loss during the pandemic: A systematic review

PONE-D-21-13530R1

Dear Dr. Nasiri,

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.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Kazumichi Fujioka

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

I am grateful for your patience during COVID era when we experience difficulty finding enough competent reviewers timely.

Reviewers' comments: