PONE-D-23-36958The Relationship between Easily-Modifiable Lifestyle Habits and Self-Reported Health in Children and Adolescents in the United kingdomPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Moran,

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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

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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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: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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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

Reviewer #2: 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: Thank you for the opportunity to review this paper who analyzed the relationship between specific easily modifiable lifestyle factors and self-reported health in Children and Adolescents in the United kingdom. The date is from Millennium Cohort Study, specifically the fifth sweep in 2015. The study's utilization of multiple regression analysis provides a robust framework for examining these associations, offering valuable insights into potential avenues for promoting healthier behaviors and preventing chronic diseases.

The authors should move table 1 in the section Results, now is placed before the Statistical Analysis.

Overall, this paper makes a significant contribution to the literature on lifestyle factors and health outcomes in young individuals. However, it would be beneficial for the authors to provide additional insights into the limitations of the study, such as potential confounding variables or biases, which could impact the generalizability of the findings. Additionally, suggestions for future research directions would further enhance the paper's contribution to the field.

The references should be check by the authors as some of them are not in the Journal format and they are written in different styles.

Reviewer #2: The manuscript provides the findings of a study conducted with the objective to determine the interdependence of modifiable lifestyle factors on self-reported health in British adolescents. The theoretical basis is well founded and justifies the study. The bibliographic references are current and relevant to the subject of study. The methods used are sufficiently described, appropriate and consistent with the study proposal. The proposal is presented in an attractive manner, and the discussion of the findings show good prospects to the knowledge area. The conclusions are consistent with presented evidence and arguments. The findings of the study have good prospects to offer important contributions to the knowledge area, and offers important support for the design and conduct of future studies.

However, with the intention of helping to improve the manuscript, I suggest adjusting two items:

(a) Table 1 - Descriptive Statistics for Participant Characteristics: data related to self-reported health and modifiable lifestyle behaviors should not be presented through mean and standard deviation, but rather through prevalence rates (%) and respective confidence intervals (CI 95%) for each categorical answers.

(b) The use of the term "Easily-Modifiable Lifestyle Habits": I understand and studies have shown that it is eventually possible to modify lifestyle habits, particularly in childhood and adolescence. However, this is an "extremely difficult" task, and not as the authors mention, "easily". Furthermore, there are important conceptual differences between "Habits" and "Conducts". Therefore, specifically in this study, I believe that the use of the term "Easily-Modifiable Lifestyle Habits" at various times in the text is not the most appropriate. I suggest replacing the term with "Modifiable Lifestyle Behaviors".

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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The Relationship between Modifiable Lifestyle Behaviours and Self-Reported Health in Children and Adolescents in the United Kingdom

PONE-D-23-36958R1

Dear Dr. Moran,

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,

Adedayo Ajidahun

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

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: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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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: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

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: The authors had reviewed the paper and answer all the comments from the reviewers and in mu opinion the paper is ready to be publish.

Reviewer #2: I thank the authors for considering the aspects highlighted in the first review and for the effort to attend to them. All punctuated questions were answered satisfactorily by the authors, leaving no further observation to be made in the last version presented.

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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: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: Dartagnan Pinto Guedes (State University of Northern Parana, Brazil)

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