Home based, tailored intervention to reduce rate of falls after stroke (FAST): randomised trial.

8 major claims checked against the paper's own evidence: all adequately supported.

Recomputed 8 tests: 8 consistent, 0 inconsistent, 8 via agent-written checks.

6 copyedit issues flagged: mostly clarity, consistency, other.

Checked 31 references: 30 verified — 1 not checked.

1 data/code link checked; 0 live.

The manuscript is ready to submit after minor edits. The only realistic barrier to acceptance is the missing explicit informed consent statement; once added, the paper meets or exceeds reporting standards for a clinical trial. No substantive validity concerns were identified.

1. 1.
   HIGHethics

   Add a sentence to the Methods (Participants or Ethics statements) explicitly stating that written informed consent was obtained from all participants, e.g. 'All participants provided written informed consent prior to enrolment.'

   Informed consent is a standard ethical and editorial requirement; the current text only mentions capacity to consent as an inclusion criterion, not its actual acquisition.
2. 2.
   HIGHethics

   Add a sentence to the Ethics statements section confirming the trial was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (or another recognised ethical framework).

   Regulatory compliance is expected by most journals; the paper currently implies it via CONSORT and trial registration, but does not explicitly state it.
3. 3.
   HIGHstatistics

   In the Statistical analysis section, add a sentence verifying the assumptions of the negative binomial model (e.g. overdispersion) and ANOVA (e.g. normality, homogeneity of variance), or state that the sample size made these tests robust to minor violations.

   Assumption verification improves transparency and reproducibility; all three reviewers noted this as a minor gap.
4. 4.
   HIGHreporting

   In the Statistical analysis section, specify the type of ANOVA used (e.g. repeated measures, mixed), as noted by the copyedit pass.

   Clarifying the ANOVA type improves methodological replicability.
5. 5.
   MEDIUMstatistics

   Add a statement to the Statistical analysis section describing the handling of outliers in the primary and secondary outcomes, even if no outliers were excluded.

   Outlier handling is a standard reporting element; its absence was flagged by two reviewers and the copyedit pass.
6. 6.
   MEDIUMreporting

   Consider adding a patient and public involvement (PPI) statement to the Methods, as the authors note its absence as a limitation in the Discussion.

   Adding a PPI statement would address the limitation the authors themselves identified and strengthen the manuscript for submission.
7. 7.
   MEDIUMreporting

   Provide the full TIDieR checklist as a supplementary file to enhance replicability of the intervention.

   A TIDieR checklist is best practice for complex intervention trials and was suggested by one reviewer.
8. 8.
   MEDIUMdata code

   In the Data availability statement, clarify the access conditions (e.g. whether the data are openly available without restriction or require a request).

   Fully specifying access conditions meets tier-1 adequacy criteria for managed-access repositories.
9. 9.
   LOWcopyedit

   Fix the duplicated committee name in the Ethics statements: 'Macquarie University Human Research Ethics Committee Human Research Ethics Committee' should be a single instance.

   This typographical duplication was flagged by the copyedit pass and is a quick fix.
10. 10.
    LOWcopyedit

    Fix the extra semicolon and parentheses in Table 3, Step Test row: change '0.40 (0.29); (n=185)' to '0.40 (0.29); n=185' for consistency.

    Minor formatting inconsistency noted by the copyedit pass.