Peer Review History

Original SubmissionJanuary 16, 2023
Decision Letter - Sidrah Nausheen, Editor

PONE-D-23-00391Knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with Vitamin D supplementation: A cross-sectional online community survey of adults in the UKPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Nuttan Kantilal Tanna,

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Kind regards,

Sidrah Nausheen, FCPS

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 Author,

This is an interesting study considering the need for vitamin D supplementation in adult population. Overall, it is well written and structured study with intelligible presentation and appropriate methodology.

Reviewer #2: Table 2 could be simplified for better understanding.

comprehensive KAP regarding vit D in community.

Good representation of minority groups at particular higher risk.

provides baseline information to policy makers.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachments
Attachment
Submitted filename: KAP Vit D.docx
Revision 1

Paper: Knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with Vitamin D supplementation: A cross-sectional online community survey of adults in the UK

Dear Professor Sidrah Nausheen, Academic Editor, PLOS ONE

Thank you both to you and the peer reviewers for reviewing our paper ‘Knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with Vitamin D supplementation: A cross-sectional online community survey of adults in the UK’, and the helpful comments. We appreciated the positive peer reviewer comments.

We have addressed all the modifications requested, bar one, and look forward to the paper being published in PLOS ONE with a little assistance from the editorial team. We would appreciate help with formatting of Tables 2 and 3 in the manuscript, with proof for approval, before publication.

With thanks

Nuttan Tanna

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

PLOS ONE Journal Reviewer #1: Dear Author,

This is an interesting study considering the need for vitamin D supplementation in adult population. Overall, it is well written and structured study with intelligible presentation and appropriate methodology.

Reviewer #2: Table 2 could be simplified for better understanding.

comprehensive KAP regarding vit D in community.

Good representation of minority groups at particular higher risk.

provides baseline information to policy makers.

Dear Peer Reviewers,

Thank you for your valuable time to peer review and comment on our paper. We are happy to note that you found the paper interesting and comprehensive, reporting results from a well-structured study design. This paper reports findings from the first phase of the FABCOM-D study. This was an online electronic survey available via the Qualtrics platform on a smartphone or computer. We were pleased that we managed to get good representation of ethnic minority respondents, with findings thereby applicable to the diverse UK wide community. We are currently analysing the dataset from the second qualitative phase which includes focus group discussions sessions and one-to-one interviews, with the view that this will generate additional information to help build on the first phase findings, and further inform our knowledge on facilitators and barriers associated with vitamin D supplementation.

We have simplified Table 2 and present the data within Tables 2 and 3 in the revised manuscript and hope that this helps with a better understanding of the statistical analysis and results. Table 4, available as a supplementary file, provides the dataset from the logistic regression analysis.

Reviewer’s comments

1. The study objective is about barriers and drivers of vitamin D supplementation in defined population. The result is more focused towards association of risk factor to vitamin D usage (table 2). Either this should be added in the objectives or deleted from the results.

Thank you for this important observation. To clarify, our defined population was the community, so those that would generally be able to self-care. The FABCOM-D study includes a study design with 2 phases. This paper reports findings from the first quantitative phase. A background literature search helped with identification of risk factors that needed to be considered when exploring for facilitators or barriers within the community setting. We have stated that the main outcome measures for the first phase were awareness of vitamin D sources, health benefits and testing and attitudes to supplementation, sun exposure and fortification.

We have also simplified Table 2 and present the dataset within Tables 2 and 3 in the revised manuscript.

2. It will be more impactful if a table is added showing which barriers and which drivers were identified for vitamin D usage in the study population.

Thank you for this helpful comment. We are undertaking further work, with analysis of the dataset from phase 2. This second qualitative phase generated rich data from focus group discussions and individual interviews. The findings should add to and build on knowledge on facilitators and barriers around Vitamin D supplementation. We will report these findings in our next paper, in both narrative and tabular formats.

Attachments
Attachment
Submitted filename: Response to Reviewers final 0723.docx
Decision Letter - Sidrah Nausheen, Editor

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with Vitamin D supplementation: A cross-sectional online community survey of adults in the UK

PONE-D-23-00391R1

Dear Dr.Nuttan Kantilal Tanna,

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,

Sidrah Nausheen, FCPS

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Formally Accepted
Acceptance Letter - Sidrah Nausheen, Editor

PONE-D-23-00391R1

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with Vitamin D supplementation: A cross-sectional online community survey of adults in the UK

Dear Dr. Tanna:

I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now with our production department.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please let them know about your upcoming paper now to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information please contact onepress@plos.org.

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Thank you for submitting your work to PLOS ONE and supporting open access.

Kind regards,

PLOS ONE Editorial Office Staff

on behalf of

Dr. Sidrah Nausheen

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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