PONE-D-23-06530Consequences of type-2 diabetes mellitus and malaria co-morbidity on sperm parameters in men; a case-control study in a district hospital in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Partly

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: I Don't Know

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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: The paper is quite good but there are some typographical and grammatical errors, the commonest of which is putting periods after headings. These periods (full stops) should be removed. There should be a description of the hospital (is it in an urban or rural area? How many bedded hospital is it? Does it have a diabetes clinic? The type of testosterone assay was not well established under the methodology as the authors did not state if it was free or total or bioavailable testosterone that was measured. Was there any other hormone assay (prolactin, estradiol performed?). Also the references need to be well standardised and seem not to follow any certain citing style/pattern especially those from online (internet) journals.

Reviewer #2: Study reports a very important aspect globally; and mostly in Africa where infertility carries important medical and mostly psychosocial implications. The analysis of outcomes has used standard methods, for both malaria and diabetes; results are very relevant and matched with the research questions.

The design is appropriate, and the different essays have been conducted following the standardized methods. However, the application of the design presents some weaknesses which introduced doubt in the findings concerning introduction of possible bias.

We suggest reworking on following observations and revised all criteria of a good case-control study to increase even more the quality of this study.

The design of the study is quite good, and the conduct of the study was smoothly conducted.

The technical aspects related to equipment’s lab techniques used by the authors team was appreciable; however,

The case-control aspect has been a bit neglected. Several aspects reported in case-control studies were not mentioned here (see methodology and even an aspect of the results)

Using the checklist of reporting good case-control studies, we can realize for example:

1. Assignment of patients in groups of the study?

2. Analysis not detailed, stratification-logistic regression, which assumptions?

3. Socio-demographic data is not presented stratified by groups (case/controls) to get an idea about similarities/differences between the two groups.

4. Not considerations of most of the key points used in critical appraisal checklist of a case-control studies

see: Joanna Briggs Institute 2017 Critical Appraisal Checklist for Case Control Studies (jbi.global): https://jbi.global/sites/default/files/2019-05/JBI_Critical_Appraisal-Checklist_for_Case_Control_Studies2017_0.pdf

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Prof Olufemi Fasanmade

Reviewer #2: Yes: no

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Consequences of type-2 diabetes mellitus and malaria co-morbidity on sperm parameters in men; a case-control study in a district hospital in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.

PONE-D-23-06530R1

Dear Dr. Abdulai

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,

Raquel Inocencio da Luz, Phd

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE