About the Authors

Lorenzo Moja

moja@marionegri.it

Affiliations Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy, Clinical Epidemiology Unit, IRCCS Galeazzi Orthopedic Institute, Milan, Italy

Alessandra Piatti

Affiliation Epidemiological Observatory, ASL Milano, Milan, Italy

Valentina Pecoraro

Affiliation University of Milan, Milan, Italy

Cristian Ricci

Affiliation Clinical Epidemiology Unit, IRCCS Galeazzi Orthopedic Institute, Milan, Italy

Gianni Virgili

Affiliation Department of Oto Specialised Surgical Sciences, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

Georgia Salanti

Affiliation Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology Unit and Clinical Trials and Evidence-Based Medicine Unit, Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, School of Medicine, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece

Luca Germagnoli

Affiliation Clinical Epidemiology Unit, IRCCS Galeazzi Orthopedic Institute, Milan, Italy

Alessandro Liberati

† Deceased.

Affiliation Department of Oncology, Hematology and Respiratory Diseases, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

Giuseppe Banfi

Affiliations University of Milan, Milan, Italy, Clinical Epidemiology Unit, IRCCS Galeazzi Orthopedic Institute, Milan, Italy

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: LM AP GB. Performed the experiments: AP VP LG LM. Analyzed the data: AP CR GV GS. Wrote the paper: LM AP VP. Critical revision of the intellectual content of the manuscript: LM AP VP CR GV GS LG AL GB.