Comment on “Obesity effects on sleep quality with anthropometric and metabolic changes”

Dear Editor,

I read with great appreciation the study by Tuna et al. entitled “Obesity effects on sleep quality with anthropometric and metabolic changes”¹. In this study, the authors aimed to determine the effect of obesity on sleep quality by using the Pittsburgh Quality İndex and Berlin Question and evaluate the association of sleep with anthropometric and metabolic parameters. The study has an elegant rationale and is expected to generate new research in future. However, some methodological fragile reduces the clinical applicability of these results.

First of all, the authors used effect size for the sampling (p=575), but it is not described in the “Results” and/or “Discussion” sections (nor in tables). The results of this study are relevant; however, there is a need to look beyond statistical significance (i.e., clinical relevance, not just p-value)².

Second, it is necessary to do Bonferroni’s correction for the outcome comparisons³. Why did the authors not do it? Besides, in the scientific context, technical terms should be used, e.g., “circumference” is wrong — measurements of body surfaces are called “perimeters.” In addition, “height” must be “stature” and “weight” should be “body mass” (note that the concept of BMI is body [mass] index, not body [weight] index)⁴.

Finally, the word “effects,” as described in the title, directs the reader’s reasoning to an experimental study (considering that only designs testing effects are clinical trials). In addition, this is an observational study, but the design is unclearly described. What checklist did the authors use to present these results?

REFERENCES

• ^1.
  Tuna MK, Işık AC, Madenci ÖÇ, Kaya KS. Obesity effects on sleep quality with anthropometric and metabolic changes. Rev Assoc Med Bra (1992). 2022;68(5):574-8. https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.20211072
  » https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.20211072
• ^2.
  Pontes-Silva A. Statistical significance does not show clinical relevance: we need to go beyond the p-value. J Clin Exp Hepatol. 2022;12(5):1402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jceh.2022.04.017
  » https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jceh.2022.04.017
• ^3.
  Curtin F, Schulz P. Multiple correlations and Bonferroni’s correction. Biol Psychiatry. 1998;44(8):775-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3223(98)00043-2
  » https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3223(98)00043-2
• ^4.
  Pontes-Silva A. May skeletal muscle index predicts mortality in individuals with cirrhosis? J Clin Exp Hepatol. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jceh.2022.07.250
  » https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jceh.2022.07.250

• Funding: none.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  25 Nov 2022
• Date of issue
  2022

History

• Received
  13 May 2022
• Accepted
  06 July 2022