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Article History

Received: 26 August 2024

Accepted: 3 December 2024

First Online: 12 December 2024

Declarations

:

: 1. This study does not require or mandate the Institutional Review Board approval because it used publicly available data that had been de-identified or contained a limited data set (the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) does not require that users receive IRB review from their institutions). Hence, patient consent is not possible. Further, this study included only adults > 18 years of age. 2. As per the HCUP agreement, it is not required that users receive IRB review from their institutions; the HCUP Data Use Agreement (DUA) provides proof of compliance with the HIPAA privacy rule. In addition, the HCUP databases are consistent with the definition of “limited data sets” () under the HIPAA Privacy Rule. They contain no direct patient identifiers, and completion of both the HCUP Data Use Agreement (DUA) training (), and a signed or electronically submitted DUA are required to obtain the HCUP databases.

: Not applicable.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.