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Article History

Received: 14 August 2020

Accepted: 19 November 2020

First Online: 2 December 2020

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: This study was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Scientific Board of Venizeleio General Hospital of Heraklion (Decision No. 128/Meeting 17/18-12-2019). Informed consent was obtained from all patients. The consent was either written or verbal. From some patients, verbal consent was obtained due to either a low level of educational attainment or a better understanding of the scientific protocol of the study using oral language. In these cases, a member of the Ethics Committee of the Scientific Board of Venizeleio General Hospital of Heraklion was always present, in order to ensure the understanding of the scientific protocol of the study from the patients and to certify that they give their consent. The Ethics Committee of the Scientific Board of Venizeleio General Hospital of Heraklion, with the same decision (Decision No.128/Meeting 17/18-12-2019), accepted both methods (written or verbal) for providing information to and obtaining consent from the patients.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.