PONE-D-24-18004Family care and predictors of the disabled elderly in China: a cross-sectional study based on the Anderson modelPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. wang,

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Additional Editor Comments:

We thank the authors for their paper. We apologize for the long review period, as we experienced difficulties to find reviewers. With one reviewer report available we have come to our decision to ask for major revision.

Please use the good comments of the reviewer to revise your paper. Main issues are the selection of "predictors" for family care, with very much literature available (especially burden of care, further discrimination to different care tasks?) and the embedding of your discussion in both your own results (which should substantiate your conclusions) and literature.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

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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

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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Reviewer #1: No

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5. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: The main problem of this study is that the results are very much about who is providing family care (spouses and children). No information is given on the burden that family members might experience in providing care. In the discussion it is mentioned "family care is difficult ..." and that family member are at risk of mental and physical health detoriation. However, there are no results that substantiates these conclusions.

The abstract is not always clear

line 25: aging and aging .. what does this mean?

line 38-40: the conclusion is not supported by the data

Introduction:

line 18, 19: this gives the impression that elderly disabled have to rely on informal care since formal care cannot meet the demands.

line 59: 60+? 65+

line 61: however ?

line 68-70: sustainability ... is under threat. If this is the heart of the research than other data needed to be accumulated, i.e. on the burden of informal care

Results:

146: slightly?

149: average? in table 1: moderate ?

150: poor: in table 1 mild ?

Discussion:

176, 177: Family care is difficult: there are no data presented here to support this

180: put spouses and children at risk: no data presented in this research to support this claim

198, 199: specific assistance is required: no data to support this

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Reviewer #1: Yes: dr. Harry Finkenflugel

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Family care and predictors of the disabled elderly in China: a cross-sectional study based on the Anderson model

PONE-D-24-18004R1

Dear Dr. wang,

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,

Robbert Huijsman, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Dear Authors, Thanks for your revision. It answers the reviewers' comments adequately.

Reviewers' comments: