Document is current

Article History

Received: 16 July 2020

Accepted: 14 April 2021

First Online: 21 April 2021

Declarations

:

: This is a secondary analysis of data routinely collected in Portuguese public hospitals in which the secondary use of personal data is regulated by a personal data protection legislation, and was conducted under the supervision of the Central Administration of the Health System (ACSS) (), Ministry of Health (Portugal), the legal owner of the DRG database in Portugal. The national legislations provide that, as a principle, health data must be anonymized for secondary use. Under Portuguese national laws and legislations, it is mandatory to inform the patient of the content of the electronic health records and their rights before the electronic health records are put in place. This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors. The data obtained from the ACSS is anonymous and confidential, in which the authors cannot identify any subject on that database, in accordance with the national legislation, the institutional requirements, and the Portuguese National Authority of Data Protection for the creation of an individual database.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no conflict of interest.