PREreview of Distribution of Congenital Syphilis Hospitalizations According to Sex and Race/Color: An Ecological Study Using Secondary Data

Write a short summary of the research’s main findings and how this work has moved the field forward.

The study focused on the distribution of congenital syphilis using an ecological design. They reported unequal distribution of cases of congenital syphilis, which was more among females and those who identified as brown by race.

Major issues

• Add months for data considered.

• It is not clear whether part or the whole of Brazil was considered for this study.

• The scientific justification for using an ecological design in the study setting is not clear/ may be improved. (last 2 paragraphs of the introduction)

• There is a discrepancy in frequencies reported in the abstract and methodology. (relative frequency vs proportions; although they are related, they do not mean the same)

• No statement (s) on sample size?? What was the effect size considered in the study? Justification.

• No statement on ethical requirements

• Results presentation requires improvement.

• Create a section for discussion.

• In-depth discussion required, comparison with existing literature underscoring any gaps/limitations. It is more descriptive.

Minor issues

Distribution of congenital syphilis Hospitalisations According to Sex and Race/Color: An ecological study using secondary data.

• Title and objective can be improved, for example, “cases” instead of “hospitalization”. eg Distribution of hospitalized cases of congenital syphilis in Brazil: An ecological study

• In the abstract, under results, add findings from inferential statistics (?? chi-square,…, p-value)

• Paragraph 2, last sentence: A lot of space between the words.

• Improve syntax

Competing interests

The author declares that they have no competing interests.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The author declares that they did not use generative AI to come up with new ideas for their review.