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Article History

Received: 6 August 2024

Accepted: 10 March 2025

First Online: 15 March 2025

Declarations

:

: 1. This study is not required or mandate from the Institutional Review Board approval because it used publicly available data that had been de-identified or contain limited data set (The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) does not require that users receive IRB review from their institutions). Hence, a patient consent is not possible. Further this study included only adults > 18 years 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) provide the 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.

: We want to disclose the role of one of the co-authors (Joel B Epstein) as an Editor of the journal.