Body Mass Index Trends among a Cohort of Subjects Enrolled in Medication-Assisted Treatment Programmes for Opioid Use Disorder: Racial/Ethnic, Gender, and Age Differences

Review Data

Q: Is the topic relevant to the journal's area of interest? Is it contemporary and interesting for researchers?

A: Very good

Abstract & Keywords

Q: Are all required components included in the abstract? Are the keywords appropriately chosen?

A: Excellent

Goal

Q: Is the goal explicitly stated in the Introduction? Is its formulation clear and unambiguous?

A: Very good

Structure

Q: Is the paper's structure coherent? Is it in coherence with the goal of the paper?

A: Very good

Tools and Methods

Q: Are the methods the author uses adequate and well-used?

A: Very good

Discussion & Conclusion

Q: Is it related to the results presented before? Do you consider them as coherent?

A: Good

Comments:

This study compares obesity prevalence in patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) directly to people in the general population matched by race/ethnicity, gender, and age. The study is well designed and executed. The Methods and Results are adequately described. The Discussion offers a thorough and detailed analysis of the findings of the present study taking all the relevant literature into account. In Conclusion, this study found a higher overall prevalence of overweight and obese individuals in the cohort compared to state surveillance data. These trends may provide insight for future physicians to assess high-risk factors for proper prevention and intervention.

Literature

Q: Does the author utilize relevant literature?

A: Very good

Author's knowledge

Q: What is the level of the author’s knowledge? Does the author utilize all recent contributions relevant to the topic?

A: Very good

Length

Q: Is the paper's length adequate to the topic's significance? Do you suggest shortening the paper without losing its value?

A: Good

Figures & Tables

Q: Does the author use them suitably? Are legend and notations clear?

A: Good

Writing style

Q: Is it clear and understandable?

A: Very good

Further comments on the paper

Comments: This study aims to describe the prevalence rates of obesity in individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) from a cohort study and compare that to the expected prevalence that would be observed based upon New Jersey state and US population survey data. This study holds importance as it found significant differences in BMI prevalence in subjects enrolled in medication-assisted treatment (MAT) programmes compared to state and national trends. No collection of data regarding environmental factors such as physical activity, nutrition, and dietary habits and inability to verify the consistency of weight and height measurements due to collection of medical records from the MAT facilities come out as some of the limitations of this study.

Q: Would you recommend this manuscript for further publication?

A: Yes - Suitable to be published

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Science Repository Team