Links between Sleep Apnoea and Insomnia in a British Cohort

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The relevant UK biobank and FinnGen data used in the analysis need to be described. What were the data? How were the data used? In line 114, “Genome-wide summary statistics for insomnia” is confusing. Genome-wide is referred to whole genome and has nothing to do with insomnia. On the other hand, the Finnish data are genetic data, but the author seems to refer it as “corresponding data for sleep apnoea”. Those statements are confusing. It is important to describe the relationship between the two datasets and the survey data presented in the manuscript.

 

The authors claimed that only age was collected. However, in lines 134-140, sex and BMI were apparently also collected. Sex and BMI may be considered identifiable. I am not an ethicist. The author may want to consult with an ethicist to make sure that an IRP is not needed for the study.

 

My other issue with this manuscript is that sleep apnea is defined by the number of events of apneas and hypopneas from polysomnography (PSG) study. The author did not have PSG data but inferred sleep apnea from questionnaires. Are there published papers that confirm the validity of the survey as diagnostic measure for sleep apnea?

Author Response

Please see the attachment. Thanks

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

"Links between sleep apnoea and insomnia in a British cohort" is a very interesting and important paper and it needs only minor revision.

Critics & comments:

1. The study include only questionnaire results - they haven't use the gold standard (PSG).

2. "There are major differences between sleep apnoea and insomnia. For instance, insomnia is more frequent in women [20], while men are more likely to develop sleep apnoea 54 [21]."

-> This is only one reference for it:

     - Insomnia isn't more frequent in women, but they go more often to the doctor and complain. 

     - OSAS is increasing in men, who are 30 + years; in women, who are older (menopause).

3. The comorbidity between inomnia and OSAS is common.

"Links between sleep apnoea and insomnia in a British cohort" 

needs minior linguistic revision.

Author Response

Please see the attachment. Thanks

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript improved. I would suggest that author makes clear in Figure 1 that the procedure involved summary statistics from UK Biobank and FinnGen followed by a Mendelian Randomization study.

Author Response

Many thanks for your further comments. I have now added the data sources as suggested in Figure 1A, and detailed explanations in the related figure legends. These additions are highlighted. I hope that this manuscript is now suitable for publication.