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Article History

Received: 2 July 2025

Accepted: 19 September 2025

First Online: 3 October 2025

Declarations

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: The authors declare no competing interests. Claudia Cozzolino, Andrea Cozza, Laura Salmaso, Mario Saia, Davide Gentili, Michele Tonon, Francesca Russo, Silvia Cocchio, Vincenzo Baldo.

: This study was conducted in accordance with relevant ethical guidelines. Aggregated data were obtained from databases of the Veneto Region, for which official permission to access and use the data was granted by the Regional Health Authority, and the disclosure and utilization of such records for educational and scientific purposes do not necessitate approval from ethical committees. On January 24, 2023, the Veneto Region implemented the Code of Conduct for the use of health data for educational and scientific publication purposes (Official Bulletin of the Region, “ Bollettino Ufficiale della Regione ” no. 10), as established by the European Committee (European Regulation 2016/679). This implementation previously received approval from the Italian Personal Data Protection Authority on January 14, 2021. Adhering to the current Italian privacy legislation, the publication and utilization of health data, along with the processing methods, must occur exclusively in aggregate form, without any reference to patients’ personal information. Prior to providing access to the authors, all personal data that could potentially lead to identification was substituted with anonymous codes, in accordance with current privacy regulations (Legislative Decree no. 196 of June 30, 2003).