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Article History

Received: 27 September 2023

Accepted: 22 October 2025

First Online: 28 November 2025

Declarations

:

: This is a retrospective data analysis and the study protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (Institutional Review Board [IRB] of China Medical University Hospital (CMUH): CMUH109-REC2-094). This study meets the criteria of waving the inform consent because we used “de-identified” data, which were retrospectively collected and processed by the information technology (IT) center through formal application process in this specific hospital upon the request of the available reginal IRB. Specifically, the used data cannot be identified for the personal information after being processed by the IT center. In Taiwan, it is emphasized that “ as for the personal data regarding medical records, medical treatment, genetics, sexual life, health examinations and criminal records, which were prepared or collected by public agencies or medical/academic research institutes for medical, health or crime prevention purposes, only the data meet the following criteria can be used to fulfill the necessity of analysis purpose or academic research: data cannot be identified for the personal information after being processed by the providers or which were collected through deidentify the personal information based on the method of disclosure.” Thus, the aforementioned data can be used without having inform consents from patients or individuals, upon the “Personal Data Protection Law” announced by the Committee of Personal Data Protection, Executive Yuan, Taiwan, and approved by CMUH IRB accordingly.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.