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Article History

Received: 7 December 2021

Accepted: 9 September 2022

First Online: 5 November 2022

Declarations

:

: Hprolipsis was approved by the Ethics Committee of the NKUA (date: March 4, 2015, protocol #: 6141); the general population EMENO survey was approved by the same ethics committee (date: November 8, 2012, protocol #: 1742) and by the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (date: December 7, 2012, protocol #: ΓΝ/ΕΞ/1069–1/07–12-2012).All participants provided written informed consent.All methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.A combination of digits demonstrating the population, region, interviewer, and serial number of the participant were used to prepare barcodes with unique individual codes. Barcodes were attached to all forms and questionnaires, referral forms for blood examinations, and aliquots. For aliquots, specific deep-freeze barcodes were used. Personal data and their associated individual code were safely stored in a separate file. Only physicians and coordinators of each population/area had access to these data, which were used only to send thank-you letters, medical reports, and to facilitate linkage to the public health care system when needed.Before any fieldwork began, all researchers and physicians signed a confidentiality form, and prophylactic vaccination against HBV was recommended.(i) We confirm that all experimental protocols were approved by a named institutional and/or licensing committee.(ii) We confirm that all methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.(iii) We confirm that informed consent was obtained from all participants.

: Not applicable.

: GT has received EU and national resources grants to support this study and grants unrelated to this study from Gilead Sciences Europe, UCL, ECDC, University of Bristol, EU, and National funds. GP has been advisor/lecturer for AbbVie, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Ipsen, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis, Roche, Takeda and has received research grants unrelated to this study from AbbVie, Gilead. VS has received grants unrelated to this study from Gilead Sciences and AbbVie and honoraria from Gilead Sciences, AbbVie and Janssen. MG has received honoraria by Merck & Co. The rest of the authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.