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Article History

Received: 31 July 2025

Accepted: 6 January 2026

First Online: 15 January 2026

Declarations

:

: This retrospective study was conducted as part of the academic requirements for the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree at the University of Medical Sciences and Technology (UMST), Khartoum, Sudan. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of UMST, and permission to collect and use retrospective patient data was granted by the Clinical Research, Training, and Consultancy Unit of Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (Ref. No. MNH/CRTCU/Perm/2023/581, dated 22 December 2023), following review and approval of the research protocol by the MNH IRB. For this retrospective study, the requirement for informed consent was waived by the MNH IRB as the research involved the use of existing data and posed no more than minimal risk to participants. All methods were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations and all study procedures were carried out in accordance with institutional guidelines and the ethical principles of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

: Not Applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.