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Article History

Received: 6 January 2026

Accepted: 3 April 2026

First Online: 17 April 2026

Declarations

:

: This study was a retrospective analysis of anonymized data collected as part of routine diagnostic and programmatic activities under the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) at King George’s Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow, India. No identifiable personal data were accessed or used during the study. According to the National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical and Health Research Involving Human Participants issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 2017 [ ], retrospective studies involving secondary analysis of fully anonymized data may be exempt from institutional ethics committee review and from the requirement for informed consent. Specifically, the guidelines state that a waiver of consent may be obtained for retrospective studies in which participants are de-identified or cannot be contacted. In accordance with these national guidelines, formal ethics committee approval and informed consent were not required for this study. All methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations, including the Declaration of Helsinki.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.