PONE-D-23-18643Moms in motion: Predicting healthcare utilization patterns among Mothers in Newfoundland and LabradorPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Rash,

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Ammal Mokhtar Metwally, Ph.D (MD)

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

Reviewer #2: Yes

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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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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

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: Hi... great article but there are few concerns

1. In the introduction kindly mention the current health care utilization data at least within 5 yrs till date.

2. How was the questionnaire validated, please state it clearly. In addition kindly explain clearly the line 220-224 supporting and justifying the same.

3. Kindly check out the data for this study for speedy usage. It might be outdated for publication usage. Since it has to be used within 5yrs after data collection.

Reviewer #2: The manuscript entitled “Moms in motion: predicting healthcare utilization patterns among mothers in Newfoundland and Labrador” is based on impressive empirical evidence and makes an original contribution. The authors have provided a lot of information about maternal and child health in this study and the data is representative of the provincial level. However, I strongly encourage the authors to address the following points.

1.Citation in this manuscript starts from number 3. Authors should begin to cite with number 1

2.Please describe introduction section using paragraphs and no need for sub headings in this section (Page 3 line 64 and Page 8 line 172)

3.There are 67 citations in introduction section out of 113 references. Authors just have only 50% citation in discussion section compared to introduction. Please more comprehensive literature review in discussion section.

4.The literature review is promising, but disregards recent publications in the field of healthcare utilization. Please more recent literature review (From 113 referenced papers in this study, 74 references are older than 2013)

5.Please clearly explain in method section regarding independent and dependent. variables. Information given in the method is a bit confusing for readers.

6.I had difficulties understanding the table 1 and table 3 and suggest that the authors simplify it. Please summarize it. If it possible, please re-categorized each variables.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Moms in motion: Predicting healthcare utilization patterns among Mothers in Newfoundland and Labrador

PONE-D-23-18643R1

Dear Dr. Rash,

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,

Ammal Mokhtar Metwally, Ph.D (MD)

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Thank you for addressing all reviewers' comments. We believe your manuscript is ready for publication.

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: I Don't Know

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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: Moms in motion really gives credibility to mothers. The article meets scientific standard . I wish the authors the best in future endeavors.

However it would be encouraging, if carried forward and following more intervention. Thank you

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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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: No

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