Sarasjärvi, Kiira Karoliina https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7615-8451
Elovainio, Marko
Appelqvist-Schmidlechner, Kaija
Solin, Pia
Tamminen, Nina
Therman, Sebastian
Funding for this research was provided by:
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Article History
Received: 14 November 2024
Accepted: 13 October 2025
First Online: 7 November 2025
Declarations
:
: This study adhered to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and was conducted in line with the ethical guidelines of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), as outlined in Finnish legislation. This study is retrospective and thus utilises already available data. The Institutional Review Board of The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) approved the SHP study conducted in 2017 (13.12.2016/THL/1704/6.02.01/2016).According to the interpretations of Finnish law provided by the National Board of Research Integrity in 2009, parental informed, passive consent was sufficient for minors aged 14 or younger, and parental notification was sufficient for those aged 15 to 17. That is, the parents or legal guardians of participants were informed about the study and were allowed to opt out their children who were under 15 years old. With respect to passive consent, it is thus presumed that a parent or guardian provides consent unless they explicitly indicate otherwise. Participants aged 15 and older provided their own informed consent to participate, as stipulated by Finnish legislation. The voluntary and anonymous nature of the survey was clearly communicated to all participants. This approach was included in the research plan reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), ensuring compliance with ethical and legal standards for population-level research.
: Not applicable.
: The authors declare no competing interests.