Inter-Rater Reliability of Scoring Systems for Abomasal Lesions in Quebec Veal Calves

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The main aim was to determine the inter-rater reliability of the current scoring systems used for abomasal lesions as well as determine the visual rating systems comparison to histological analysis.

This topic is original and relevant. Understanding the basis of lesion identification is necessary to support further research. Lesions are considered a major issue in the health and welfare of calves and therefore an accuracy assessment of our current scoring systems allows for a determining the best way forward to assessing and resolving this health issue. It is addressing a gap in the field.

This manuscript provides a critical assessment of ranking tools used for determining the severity of lesions that would be necessary for ranking the efficacy of treatments.

No further controls are needed.

The conclusions are consistent with the evidence and arguments presented and and they address the main question posed. It is clear that the highest value goes towards education of raters and that the system requires this to be considered in the experimental design of further lesion treatment evaluations.

The references are appropriate.

I believe tables and figures to be of adequate and accurate value to the manuscript content.

Excellent paper, well written and presented. Small comments below. 

line 64: space before period

figure 2: error bars are needed

line 339: veterinary courses?

Author Response

Dear editor,

Dear reviewers,

The authors are very grateful for the constructive comments and the suggestions for improving our manuscript. We hereby are submitting a revised version where we addressed all comments. We have used track changes in the manuscript.

We hope that the revised version of the manuscript is acceptable for publication in Animals.

Thank you again,

Yours sincerely,

The authors

Reviewer:1

The main aim was to determine the inter-rater reliability of the current scoring systems used for abomasal lesions as well as determine the visual rating systems comparison to histological analysis.

This topic is original and relevant. Understanding the basis of lesion identification is necessary to support further research. Lesions are considered a major issue in the health and welfare of calves and therefore an accuracy assessment of our current scoring systems allows for a determining the best way forward to assessing and resolving this health issue. It is addressing a gap in the field.

This manuscript provides a critical assessment of ranking tools used for determining the severity of lesions that would be necessary for ranking the efficacy of treatments.

No further controls are needed.

The conclusions are consistent with the evidence and arguments presented and and they address the main question posed. It is clear that the highest value goes towards education of raters and that the system requires this to be considered in the experimental design of further lesion treatment evaluations.

The references are appropriate.

I believe tables and figures to be of adequate and accurate value to the manuscript content.

Excellent paper, well written and presented. Small comments below.

AU: We would like to thank the reviewer for his/her positive comments. We addressed the small comments below.

-Specific comments:

Line 64: space before period

AU: The space has been removed at line 64.

Figure 2: error bars are needed

AU: Error bars have been added to Figure 2. In order to see the error bars when a prevalence of 100% occurred, we adjusted the Y-axis to 120%. We hope this is correct for the reviewer.

Line 339: veterinary courses?

AU: We would like to thank the reviewer for this observation. This information has been added at line 341.

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript titled " Inter-rater reliability of scoring systems for abomasal lesions in Quebec veal calves” determined the inter-rater reliability of current scoring systems used to detect abomasal lesions in veal calves. The study demonstrated that the score depends on the experience of the rater. The study involved different raters, including senior researchers and veterinary students, who mimicked the field application of a scoring system. However, the study has a limitation in that it did not examine intrareader agreement. The results suggested that the development and implementation of a new reliable scoring system.

The manuscript is well-written and very easy to follow. Thanks authors for your impressive presentation. 

It would be very helpful for reproducibility if the authors could provide the R code used in the study as supplementary material.

Specific comments: Please see attached pdf for minor comments.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear editor,

Dear reviewers,

The authors are very grateful for the constructive comments and the suggestions for improving our manuscript. We hereby are submitting a revised version where we addressed all comments. We have used track changes in the manuscript.

We hope that the revised version of the manuscript is acceptable for publication in Animals.

Thank you again,

Yours sincerely,

The authors

Reviewer:2

The manuscript titled " Inter-rater reliability of scoring systems for abomasal lesions in Quebec veal calves” determined the inter-rater reliability of current scoring systems used to detect abomasal lesions in veal calves. The study demonstrated that the score depends on the experience of the rater. The study involved different raters, including senior researchers and veterinary students, who mimicked the field application of a scoring system. However, the study has a limitation in that it did not examine intrareader agreement. The results suggested that the development and implementation of a new reliable scoring system.

The manuscript is well-written and very easy to follow. Thank you authors for your impressive presentation.

It would be very helpful for reproducibility if the authors could provide the R code used in the study as supplementary material.

Specific comments: Please see attached pdf for minor comments.

AU: We would like to thank the reviewer for this positive comment. Indeed, one limitation of the study is that we did not look at the intra-rater agreement, which we regret. However, the results of this study which focusses on the inter-rater reliability, already show that new scoring systems are needed, independent on the intra-rater agreement. We hope we have clearly addressed all suggestions below and in the manuscript.  

-Specific comments:

Line 46: It would be relevant to have a reference regarding the prevalence of abomasal lesions in Canada.

AU: Indeed, this information would help to have a more global image of the prevalence of abomasal lesions in calves. Unfortunately, no study was found describing the prevalence of abomasal lesions for veal calves at slaughter in Canada. Nevertheless, a Canadian study was found describing perforating ulcers causing mortality in unweaned beef calves. This information has been added at line 52 and line 413.

It would be beneficial to share the R code used for statistical analyses in supplementary material.

AU: The detailed code has been added in the Supplementary data and mentioned at line 147. We also added the Excel-file with all the data for clarity.

Please add the 95% CI to Table 1.

AU: The 95% Confidence Interval for the median of number of lesions per lesion and localisation has been added to Table 1.