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Article History

Received: 14 July 2020

Accepted: 30 November 2020

First Online: 8 February 2021

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: Ethics approval was obtained in each centre involved in the GEIRD study from the appropriate ethics committee (Comitato Etico dell’Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Ospedali Riuniti di Ancona; Comitato Etico dell’Azienda Ospedaliera Ospedali Riuniti Villa Sofia Cervello di Palermo; Comitato di Bioetica della Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo di Pavia; Comitato Etico delle Aziende Sanitarie dell’Umbria di Perugia; Comitato di Bioetica dell’Azienda Sanitaria Locale di Sassari; Comitato Etico dell’Azienda Sanitaria Locale TO/2 di Torino; Comitato Etico per la Sperimentazione dell’Azienda Ospedaliera Istituti Ospitalieri di Verona). Information on the purpose of the survey and participants’ rights according to then current Italian law (Decreto Legislativo 30 giugno 2003, n. 196) were enclosed to the questionnaire administered by mail. Individuals were free to answer or not answer the questionnaire, as denoted by the non-negligible nonresponse rate. Hence, consent to participate was implied by the answer to the questionnaire, and this form of consent was approved by the local Ethics Committee.

: Not applicable.

: G. Verlato is Section Editor of BMC Pulmonary Medicine, for the Section Epidemiology and Public Health. G. Verlato received financial support from BioMed Central to participate in the 2014 and 2015 Congresses of the European Respiratory Society. All remaining authors declare that they have no competing interests.