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Article History

Received: 14 August 2024

Accepted: 28 November 2024

First Online: 5 December 2024

Declarations

:

: This study utilized publicly available data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which is conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The NHANES protocol was approved by the NCHS Research Ethics Review Board (ERB), and all participants provided informed consent before data collection. For participants under 18 years of age, parental permission was obtained, and child assent was collected when appropriate. As our study involved secondary analysis of de-identified, publicly available data, it was exempt from additional institutional review board approval. We adhered to the ethical guidelines for the use of NHANES data as outlined by the NCHS, including proper citation and acknowledgment of the data source. All analyses were conducted in compliance with the NHANES data use agreement, ensuring participant confidentiality and data integrity.

: The present study utilized data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which is publicly available and de-identified. As per NHANES guidelines, all participants provided informed consent for their data to be used in research and subsequent publications. No additional consent was required for this specific analysis and publication, as the data were already anonymized and intended for public use in research. The authors affirm that this manuscript is an honest, accurate, and transparent account of the study being reported, and that no important aspects of the study have been omitted.

: The authors declare no competing interests.