PONE-D-24-38181Prevalence and associated factors of overweight and obesity among Afghan school children: a cross-sectional analytical study from Kandahar city, Afghanistan.PLOS ONE

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2. We noticed you have some minor occurrence of overlapping text with the following previous publication(s), which needs to be addressed:

Prevalence and associated risk factors of stunting, wasting/thinness, and underweight among primary school children in Kandahar City, Afghanistan: a cross-sectional analytical study - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-19858-z

Prevalence and Associated Factors of Overweight and Obesity among Primary School Children Aged 7–17 Years in Urban Mbarara, Uganda -  https://doi.org/10.1155/2024/5175550

(Among others)

In your revision ensure you cite all your sources (including your own works), and quote or rephrase any duplicated text outside the methods section. Further consideration is dependent on these concerns being addressed.

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Additional Editor Comments:

This study covers an important topic, and I appreciate the effort involved in conducting research in such a challenging context. However, I have a few points that I would appreciate further clarification on:

-Inclusion of Girls Aged 12–18:

I noticed that the study includes girls aged 12–18. Given the restrictions on girls' education in Afghanistan following the Taliban's takeover, I am wondering how participants in this age group were recruited.

Could you kindly provide more details on how data collection was conducted for this group? I am unsure whether the current context might have posed challenges for including these participants.

-Reliability of Family Income Data:

-I noticed that family income data were collected directly from the child participants. I am uncertain if this approach could affect the accuracy of the data.

Would you be able to explain why this method was selected and whether any steps were taken to confirm the information with parents or guardians?

If verification was not possible, it might be helpful to acknowledge this as a limitation and discuss how it could influence the study’s findings.

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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: Partly

Reviewer #2: Yes

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

Reviewer #1: I Don't Know

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: No

Reviewer #2: 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

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:  The authors mentioned , being boy, student of private school and belonging to rich families as risk factors associated with overweight and obesity. It is not clear why these are considered as risk factor. Please provide more detail and clarification.

Reviewer #2:  This is a good study conducted thoroughly in an adequate sample size; the findings highlight the iceberg of noncommunicable diseases in future generations of Afgasthan. There are no major issues for revision, but some points that can be helpful to make the article more significant are as follows:

In abstract

1. Since the AOR is calculated, it should be multiple logistic regression in statistical analysis.

2. Mean better come with SD

3. In result, numbering started from ii; its better to remove numbering

4. It will be better to have a concise conclusion based on the findings provided in the result.

In body of manuscript:

1. Participants were from the age of 6 years; were they able to provide information in the interview?

2. Total number of schools from which 10 schools were selected? Explain clearly about the calculation of sample size and sampling process step-wise, which will make it easier if readers want to replicate the study.

3. In line 129, "a researcher-made questionnaire was used in two local languages."- its great that the tool was translated into the local languages, but can you explain the process of toll validation?

4. Each table should be described separately in the result section; use 'n' to denote sample instead of N. There's no need to mention numbers when percentages are mentioned because these numbers are mentioned in tables. Information in the description should be mentined in details in the table.

5. * Family which earn <155 Afghanis (<2.15 USD) per person per day is not clear to which information you are referring to.

6. Did you use Chi-square to calculate COR and then logistic regression to calculate AOR?

7. It's better to explain AOR in an understandable way for readers than just mentioning the numbers.

8. Typing error in 237 line and reference no. 27

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: PONE-D-24-38181.pdf

Prevalence and associated factors of overweight and obesity among Afghan school children: a cross-sectional analytical study from Kandahar city, Afghanistan.

PONE-D-24-38181R1

Dear Dr. Bilal Ahmad Rahimi

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,

Marwa Ramadan

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

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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: No

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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 publication brings another aspect of the malnutrition (overweight) in Afghanistan, specifically in Kandahar province. I have no major comments

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: Yes:  Laxmi Gautam

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