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Article History

Received: 6 June 2024

Accepted: 12 July 2024

First Online: 16 July 2024

Declarations

:

: The authors affirm that all investigational protocols were duly adhered to, conforming to pertinent regulations and guidelines. The RIFLE project aligns with the ethical standards espoused in the Declaration of Helsinki. Albeit not under the auspices of an ethical committee—an oversight normative during the data collection epoch—the RIFLE Research Group did operate under the scrutiny of the Italian CNR (National Research Council), which functioned as the primary financial patron of the study. Within the ambit of the RIFLE Research Group, stringent data use, analytical, and publication protocols were established and enacted.Participants in the RIFLE project provided written and/or verbal consent to use their data for research purposes on the condition that personal identification was not possible and this was the responsibility of the Responsible Investigators of each geographical area.The data file used for this analysis included only a subset of data selected for the purpose of the analysis. Personal data of participants included only the geographical area and a serial number but their identification was impossible even to the data manager of the study thus remaining the responsibility of the Responsible Investigators of each geographical area.

: Not applicable

: The authors declare no competing interests.