PONE-D-22-11713The relationship between obesity, weight history and psychological health – are there differences related to gender?PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Jung,

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Meng Li

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: No

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Reviewer comments PONE D 22 11713

This paper describes an observational cohort study of the associations between anxiety and depression scores and obesity onset, weight loss goals and weight loss attempts in adults with obesity. The study is potentially important and valuable and the authors have a great opportunity to make a major contribution to the filed with the large amount of data they have collected. However, I have a number of comments to make about the paper, offered in a constructive spirit.

From the outset, there is an overwhelming sense of vagueness to the paper that pervades every part of it. The title is vague and does not adequately convey what the hypothesis is. What is the study design? What are the specific outcomes? In the abstract, the methods aren’t at all clear, the aims aren’t consistent with the title and the results just don’t make sense. Why the F statistic in the abstract results? This is unconventional.

The authors need to revise STROBE (or similar) guidelines and adhere to these in revising their paper.

Also it is worth noting that the formatting is not of a sufficiently high standard – taking the abstract as but one example.

The introduction is not adequately focussed on the hypothesis in hand. Arguably, the first two paragraphs could be deleted conmpletely and the paper would look much more succinct and focussed. The consideration of childhood obesity “tracking” into adulthood is to me totally irrelevant to this paper and just distracts from a consideration of the frankly really interesting findings that people with obesity who have a desire to lose a greater amount of weight tend to have higher levels of anxiety and depression,

Stop referring to the cohort as “non-clinical” – it diminishes the credibility of the paper.

How was BMI measured by phone? Have the authors considered the challenges this poses in terms of the reliability of the data? Is tehre a precedent for large studies using self reported weight and height? If so, it would be good for the authors to demonstrate an awareness of this.

The term “weight history” is vague. So is psychological health. Be specific about what these are much earlier and throughout the paper.

The failure to include error bars in figures 1 and 2 is a major omission.

The paper needs to be much shorter and more focussed and specific, especially the discussion and the introduction. Then the authors will have an important contribution to the literature.

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Francis M Finucane

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PONE-D-22-11713R1The relationship between weight history and psychological health – Differences related to gender and weight loss patternsPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Jung,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

One of the original reviewers recommended rejecting this paper and the other reviewer recommended major revision. Usually, I would reject a paper in this type of situation. However, I'd like to give this paper another chance. Please address ALL comments to the best you can. In your response to reviewers' comments letter, please quote the revised manuscript section instead of saying "revisions have been made".  This will make it easier for the reviewers as they do not have to read your response letter and the revised manuscript side by side. 

Please submit your revised manuscript by Feb 18 2023 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Meng Li

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Partly

Reviewer #2: Partly

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Having carefully revised the amended version of the manuscript and the responses to my previous comments, I think that the overall quality of the writing and the adequacy of the consideration of those comments fall below an acceptable level. The changes have been minimal. The consideration of, for example, the methodological limitations with self-reported weights and heights obtained by phone (comment/ response 5) has been inadequate. F statistics remain in the abstract.

Reviewer #2: The authors conducted a phone interview study collecting information on weight loss patterns and history and mental health outcomes among individuals with obesity. I have some comments and suggestions to enhance the clarity of the manuscript.

1. In the Abstract’s Methods section (line 22): Please specify the study design in the first sentence.

2. In the Abstract’s Methods section: Please include what analyses were done (the Results section mentions “regression analyses” for the first time. What regression analyses the authors used needs to be explained briefly in the Methods.

3. In the Abstract’s Conclusion section (line 35): The Results section in the abstract does not include any gender-specific findings. The conclusion seems to be irrelevant in the abstract. Please rewrite accordingly.

4. In the Introduction section (lines 98-99): Please define what “four stages of onset” and “variety of parameters” are upfront in the Introduction for a clearer understanding. The current objective can sound quite vague.

5. In the Method’s Sampling Procedure section: When was this data collection via phone interviews done and for how long (study date and period)?

6. In the Method’s Sampling Procedure section: Please indicate the age inclusion criteria of participants (e.g., Were they individuals of all ages? Or individuals of X years and older? Adults?)

7. In the Method’s Characteristics of Weight History section: Were the participants asked to count all the weight loss attempts “during their entire life (ever since the obesity onset)”? Please specify such information.

8. In the Method’s Data Analysis section: Please explain partial correlation and multi-variable regression models in more detail and their objectives (Currently, the authors only explain what was done for each analysis in the Results section. This information should be addressed upfront in the Methods).

9. In the Results (the use of “onset”): The authors mention that they calculated the duration by subtracting the age of onset from the age at the interview. However, it is not clear which value the authors used in the analyses (was the duration used in the analyses at all?).

a. Table 1: Does the variable “Onset of obesity” mean the age of onset of the duration of obesity?

b. Table 2: Similar here. What does the variable “Onset” mean?

c. In Regression Analysis section: It seems the models only include the age of onset (in 3 categories). Would it be meaningful to also include the duration of obesity in the models?

10. In the Discussion section (line 254): What does it mean by “clinical samples”? Those with obesity? Please specify.

11. In the Discussion section: Maybe also compare the current results with previous studies about the consistently higher prevalence of anxiety and depression in women regardless of their weight loss attempts, goals, and weight maintenance.

Thank you.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: Yes: Francis Finucane

Reviewer #2: No

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While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

The relationship between weight history and psychological health – Differences related to gender and weight loss patterns

PONE-D-22-11713R2

Dear Dr. Jung,

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.

An invoice for payment will follow shortly after the formal acceptance. To ensure an efficient process, please log into Editorial Manager at http://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/, click the 'Update My Information' link at the top of the page, and double check that your user information is up-to-date. If you have any billing related questions, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. 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.

Kind regards,

Meng Li

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments: