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Article History

Received: 27 August 2016

Accepted: 23 January 2018

First Online: 12 February 2018

Authors’ information

: Not applicable.

: This study involves the use of patient medical data from the Spanish Minimum Basic Data Set (MBDS), which is hosted by the Ministry of Health Social Services and Equality (MSSSI). The MBDS is regulated by Spanish law, which explains how institutions are required to utilize health-related personal data. The data were treated with full confidentiality accord6ing to Spanish legislation. The MSSSI evaluated the protocol of our investigation and considered it to meet all ethical aspects according to Spanish legislation. Given the anonymous and mandatory nature of the dataset, it was not necessary to obtain informed consent. Furthermore, our study was approved by the Research Ethic Committee (Comité de Ética de la Investigación y de Bienestar Animal) of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Madrid, Spain).

: Not applicable.

: The authors do not have any commercial or other association that might pose a conflict of interest.

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