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Article History

Received: 21 February 2026

Accepted: 31 March 2026

First Online: 21 April 2026

Declarations

:

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: Ethics approval for the use of these data in the present study was deemed as unnecessary as it did not involve human participants. The study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. It is appropriate to declare here that the terms “race” and “ethnicity” have different definitions which themselves have different variations and are difficult to untangle [ ]. Moreover they are controversial and understandably, they are the source of frayed sensitivities (particularly in South Africa with its history of racial division). In the present study we used definitions listed by the Journal of the American Medical Association which describes race as a broad category of people based on ancestral origin and physical characteristics while ethnicity refers to a person’s cultural identity (language, customs, religion) and a commitment to the ideas, norms and material things that constitute that heritage [ ]. In doing so we have followed JAMA’s guidance that “Inclusion of race and ethnicity in reports of medical research to address and further elucidate health disparities and inequities remains important at this time” [ ]. We have also observed the Inclusive Language Policy of the South African Journal of Science [ , ].

: None.