Submited on: 05 Oct 2015 05:34:41 PM GMT
Published on: 06 Oct 2015 02:57:16 PM GMT
 
Review of Congenital Malformations: Patterns and Prevalence at Birth
Posted by Ms. Shannon Marcum on 21 Nov 2016 08:47:38 PM GMT Reviewed by Interested Peers

  • What are the main claims of the paper and how important are they?

    This paper makes claim that higher parity correlates with an increase in instances of congenital malformations in newborn infants in developing nations, such as India. This claim is important due to the fact that it raises awareness about the issue for the need for the implementation of preventative perinatal care protocols.


  • Are these claims novel? If not, please specify papers that weaken the claims to the originality of this one.

    Making a novel claim does not appear to be a goal of this paper, due to the fact that the results are compared to those found in the relevant cited literature.


  • Are the claims properly placed in the context of the previous literature?

    Yes, because the usage of previous literature increases the credibility of the paper's data findings by showing consistency.


  • Do the results support the claims? If not, what other evidence is required?

    Yes, because the data tables clearly illustrate that there is a pattern of congenital malformations in relation to socio-economical status.


  • If a protocol is provided, for example for a randomized controlled trial, are there any important deviations from it? If so, have the authors explained adequately why the deviations occurred?

    No deviations were reported in the paper.

     


  • Is the methodology valid? Does the paper offer enough details of its methodology that its experiments or its analyses could be reproduced?

    No, there is not enough information to reproduce the exact experiment.


  • Would any other experiments or additional information improve the paper? How much better would the paper be if this extra work was done, and how difficult would such work be to do, or to provide?

    To increase reproducibility and credibility, it would benefit readers to know what questions were used to interview mothers about their socio-demographic status and how answers were specifically rated or categorized, which would be relatively easy to add in any time.


  • Is this paper outstanding in its discipline? (For example, would you like to see this work presented in a seminar at your hospital or university? Do you feel these results need to be incorporated in your next general lecture on the subject?) If yes, what makes it outstanding? If not, why not?

    No, there is too much information that is still unknown as mentioned above. Also, comparing these results with a group that received their desired preventative care would show how beneficial the measures would actually be if used as a standard of care in developing nations. Moreover, this study only shows data for one city in India, so receiving more widespread data would create more concise data for the developing nation as a whole.

     


  • Other Comments:

    This study is a great start for many other experiments that could be done to make strides toward not only increasing awareness but also reducing the instances of birth defects in newborns of developing countries.

  • Competing interests:
    .
  • Invited by the author to review this article? :
    No
  • Have you previously published on this or a similar topic?:
    No
  • References:

    .

  • Experience and credentials in the specific area of science:

    PharmD student in pharmacy program

  • How to cite:  Marcum S .Review of Congenital Malformations: Patterns and Prevalence at Birth[Review of the article 'Title : Congenital Malformations: Patterns and Prevalence at Birth ' by Agarkhedkar S].WebmedCentral 2016;7(11):WMCRW003344
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