Liaqat, Madiha
Khan, Rehan Ahmad
Kamal, Shahid
Article History
Received: 31 October 2023
Accepted: 8 February 2024
First Online: 15 February 2024
Declarations
:
: This study received formal approval from the Advanced Studies and Review Board at the University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan, under the esteemed authorization of the Dean of Sciences, Prof. Dr. Shahid Kamal. The official ethical letter, a pivotal document in this process, was meticulously drafted and endorsed by Prof. Dr. Shahid Kamal and Ms. Madiha Liaqat. A collaborative understanding between Mayo Hospital and the University of the Punjab facilitated the ethical committee’s approval of the letter, thereby granting explicit permission to collect data from patients' records for use in the study. In adherence to stringent confidentiality protocols, all collected data were meticulously anonymized, ensuring the absence of any links to individual patients. Notably, no personal identifiers were associated with the data. Consequently, due to the anonymized nature of the dataset, informed consent from the patients was formally waived by Mayo Hospital.
: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.